1 lXTKODUCTlON. 
Linnaeus, who had access to the whole of Hasselquist's collection when he edited 
the ' Iter Palsestinum,' described, in the 12th ed. of the ' Syst. Naturae,' the following 
snakes, which he states had been collected by Hasselquist in Egypt, viz. : Coluber 
situla, Linn., Coluber jugularis, Linn., and Coluber tyria, Linn. The type specimen of 
the first of these serpents is still preserved in the Stockholm Museum, and it proves to 
be the snake described by Bonaparte, in 1839, as Callopeltis leopardinus. The 
specimen of Coluber jugularis is the exact equivalent of Natrix gemonensis, Laur., 
= Zamenis gemonensis (Laur.) var. asiana, Boettger, but as it cannot unhesitatingly 
be accepted as the type of the species, the latter name will stand. The type of C. tyria, 
Linn., has unfortunately been lost, and the description is so indefinite that only a 
vague guess can be made regarding it. It appears from Hasselquist's correspondence 
that he sent only six species of snakes from Egypt ; and keeping in view the fact that 
neither Coluber situla, Linn., nor Zamenis gemonensis (Laur.) has ever been recorded 
from Egypt, on reliable evidence, since the 12th edit, of the Syst. Nat. appeared, the 
possibility suggests itself that these two species were never obtained in Egypt, but 
that they formed part of Hasselquist's collection from one of the other localities 
visited by him. 
Linnaeus, in the Catalogue of the Museum of Adolphus Frederick, records Vipera 
lebetina as an Egyptian snake; but in the 12th ed. of the Syst. Nat. " Bab. Oriente" 
is substituted for Egypt, and Hasselquist's name is omitted. 
The Danish expedition under Niebuhr, of which Forskal was the biologist, visited 
Egypt ; and in the latter's posthumous work l the turtle of the Nile is indicated as 
Testudo triunguis, Forskal = Trionyx triunguis (Forskal), and a common North- 
African lizard is named Lacerta ocellata, Forskal = Chalcides ocellatus (Forskal). A 
snake he met with in Cairo he named Coluber guttatus, but the details he gave 
regarding it are too vague to admit of its determination. The same is also true of 
the lizard from the desert about Cairo named by him Lacerta herbai. 
W. G. Browne 2 , of Oriel College, Oxford, made some adventurous journeys in Egypt 
between 1792-1798, and on his visit to Dar-Fur, which was protracted over a period of 
three years, owing to his enforced detention, he made some natural-history notes, but 
they were unfortunately lost at Alexandria. He, however, mentions the presence at 
Dar-Fur of a cobra which he calls Naja haje, and of the snakes Coluber vipera and 
Anguis colubrinus (=\Eryx thebaicus), and an abundance of chameleons. 
Guillaume Antoine Olivier 3 , while on his way to Persia, spent about the last six 
months of 1794 and the first few months of 179-5 in Lower Egypt. He described 
from the sands of Rosetta the scink now known as Mabuia vittata (Olivier), and also 
' Descr. Anirnaliuin. 1775. 
2 Travels iii Africa, Egypt, and Syria. 1799. 
3 Voyage dans l'Empire Othoman, l'Egypte, &c. 1801. 
