ON A NEW SXAKE FROM THE TRANSVAAL. 349 



22. Descriptions o£ a new Snake from the Transvaal, together 

 with a new Diagnosis and Key of the Grenus Xeno- 

 calamus, and of some Batrachia from Mudagasc;ir. By 

 The Hon. Paul A. Methuex, M.A., F.Z.S. 



[Received October 9, 1919 : IXeixA November 4, 1919.] 



(Text-ligure 1.) 



Genus Xenocalamus Gthr. 



Tlie discover}' of a new form of Xenocalamus, desciibed below, 

 and the examination of the skull of X. hicolor Gthr. and of 

 X. transvaalensis, sp. n., calls for a revision of the characters 

 of tliis genus, for which I propose the follov\'ing diagnosis : — 



IVIaxillary short, with 4 or 5 solid teetli of moilerate size 

 gvadufiUy increasing in length posteriorly, followed, after a short 

 interspace, by a pair of somewhat enlarged grooved fangs situated 

 below the posterior half of the eye ; palatines toothless or bea,ring 

 a few small teeth ; lower jaw with 7 to 9 rather small teeth on 

 each side, those in the middle of the row the largest. Postfrontal 

 bone fused with parietal. Quadrate showing tendency to enlarge- 

 ment and to having direct attachment to the skull, at the expense 

 of tlie squamosa] which may be very much reduced. Basioccip^itals 

 reniform in profile. Posterior vei'tebra? without haemal processes. 



Head small and elongate, not distinct from neck ; snout much 

 depi'essed, very prominent ; rostral large, with obtuse horizontal 

 edge, flat or excavate below ; eye minute, with round pupil ; 

 nostril between a large posterior and a small anterior scale, or in 

 a single shield which may show incipient signs of similar division. 

 A large praeocular ; no loreal ; no pi'oe frontal s (fused with frontal) ; 

 no anterior temporal. 



Bodj^ cylindrical ; tail short; scales smooth without pits, in 17 

 or 21 row's ; ventrals rounded ; subcaudals in 2 rows. 



Tropical Africa, as far south as the Transvaal. 



>Si/7io2Jsis of the Species of Xenocalamus. 



I. Palatine without teeth ; rostral iiat below. 



A. Scales in 17 rows; nasal divided ; 6 upper labials, third and fourth entering- 



the e^ve. 



1. A narrow supraocular ; ventrals 218, subcaudals 



24 to 36 X. hicolor Gthr.* 



2. No supraocular ; ventrals 229 to 239 ; sub- 



caudals 31 to 36 X. mecliocnVe\:. 



B. Scales in 21 rows; nasal entire ; 5 upper lal)ials, 



second and third entering- the eye ; ventrals 257, 



subcaudals 27 A' michelJl Miill. 



* The Transvaal Museum has an adult t'eniHle specimen of AT. hicolor (T. M. Cat. 

 Kept., No. 1151), with exactl.y the same number of ventrals and subcaudals as the 

 type ; tlie s])ecimen is, however, remarkable in that the third and fourth upper 

 labials are fused into one large scale which alone enters the eye ; in colour it is slate- 

 blue above, head and neck lighter ; from Rechtuit, Waterberg District, Transvaal. 



