AUDITIONS TO THE SNAKE FAUNA OF EGYPT. 



1079 



1. 



54:. On Aeklltidiis to tlio iSnake Fauna of Egypt. 

 By Major S. S. Flower, O.B.E., F.L.S., f!Z.S. 



fRcceivcd August 31, 1023 : Read November 6, 1923.1 

 Summari/.— Snakes of tlie genera TyjMojJS and Lycophi- 



dlum are recorded for the first time from Egypt, remarks are 

 made on the status of Lycophidium ahyssinicus, and the Protero- 

 g]yph Snake Walterinnesia o'gyptia is for the first time definitely 

 proved to be an inhabitant of Egypt. 



2. Achiowledgements. — I am indebted to Dr. Walter Francis 

 Innes Bqj, formerly Curator of the Zoological Museum, School 

 of Medicine, Cairo", to Prof. Edward Hindle, F.L.S., F.Z.S., 

 Biological Department, School of Medicine, Cairo, and to Mr. 

 j\richa.el J. Nicoll, F.Z.S., Assistant Director, Egyptian Govern- 

 ment Zoological Service, for kindly giving me many opportunities 

 of examining Egyptian snakes. 



I Avish alsto to express my thanks to Miss J. B. Procter, F.L.S., 

 F.Z.S., for her kindness in looking up, and allowing me to 

 examine, certain snakes in the collection under her charge in the 

 British Museum. 



3. Typhlops. 



When Mr. ]3oulenger published his " List of the Snakes of 

 North Africa," P. Z. S. 1919, p. 299 et seq., no representatives 

 of the family Typhlopidre were known from Egypt. 



Among snakes lent to me for examination in April 1923 were 

 two individuals of the gejius Typhlops. 



\&t. A spirit specimen definitely proves that Typlilops occurs 

 in Egypt. The discovery is due to Dr. Innes, who caught the 

 snake himself on 6th March, 1906, among the roots of a tamarisk 

 tree at MaTg, on the eastern outskirts of Cairo. 



The dimensions of this specimen in spirit, 17th April, 1923, 

 were : — 



Length, snout to vent ... 



tail 



„ total 



Diametcv of body 



„ tail, at vent 



riength of shielded-] 

 Head \ portion, in median >• 



(. line J 



„ total length 



„ width 



„ deptli 



