252 THE REPTILES OF EGYPT. 
Zamenis rhodokhachis, Jan. (Plate XXXV.) 
Zamenis rhodorhachis, Blgr. Cat. Snakes B. M. i. 1893, p. 398; op. cit. iii. 1896, p. 623; Ann. 
Mus. Civ. Genova, (2) xvi. (xxxvi.) 5 Giugno, 1896, p. 553 ; op. cit. (2) xvii. (xxxvii.) 7 Gennaio, 
1897, p. 279; Werner, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, xlv. 1895, p. 17; Anderson, Herpet. 
Arabia & Egypt, 1896, pp. 51, 106; Alcock & Finn, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, (new ser.) 
lxv. 1896 (1897), pt. ii. p. 563. 
Zamenis ventrimaculatus, non Gray, Giinther, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 489. 
Zamenis ladaccensis, Sclater, Cat. Snakes Ind. Mus. 1891, p. 27 ; Boettger, Ber. Offenb. Ver. 
xxix.-xxxii. 1892, p. 62. 
Zamenis ladaccensis, var. subnigra, Boettger, Zool. Anz. 1893, no. 416, p. 118; no. 417, p. 132. 
Zamenis rhodorhachis, Anderson, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1895, p. 654. 
1 $ . Beni Hassan. 
1 juv. Tel el Amarna. 
Body elongate and slender ; head and snout rather narrow and pointed ; the depth 
of the rostral nearly equals its breadth, the portion visible from above is equivalent 
to about a third of the interval between the rostral and the frontal ; internasals as 
long as, or nearly as long as, the prefrontals, quadrangular, with the anterior border 
more or less rounded or anteriorly and externally divergent ; prefrontals distinct ; 
frontal considerably longer than its distance from the end of the snout, nearly twice as 
long as broad anteriorly, sides deeply concave, in contact more or less with the pre- 
ocular; parietals moderately long, their extreme length exceeding the conjoint length 
of the frontal and prefrontals ; supraocular one-third narrower than the anterior border 
of the frontal ; loreal generally longer than deep ; one preocular ; one subocular, rarely 
absent; two postoculars; temporals 2 + 2 or 2 + 3; nine upper labials (rarely and 
asymmetrically 10), the fifth and sixth, or rarely the fourth, fifth, and sixth entering 
the orbit. Scales smooth, in 19 rows across the body. Ventrals 213-262, feebly 
angulate ; anal 1/1; subcaudals 113-154. 
Olive-grey, with about 95 dark, narrow, closely set cross-bars on the anterior 
two-thirds of the trunk, the posterior third and the tail uniform olive-grey. Upper 
surface of the head with obscure cross markings, occasionally a dark temporal band 
and a dark spot below the eye ; the pre- and postoculars yellow or orange-yellow, and 
an area before the dark temporal band of the same colour ; the angles of the ventrals 
generally with a dusky spot. Underparts white or pale yellowish white. In some 
(Persian specimens) there is a pinkish vertebral line. 
It attains to a length of 1167 millim., of which the tail forms 297 millim. 
The two specimens here recorded were obtained on the margin of the desert in the 
localities mentioned. 
It has a wide distribution. Besides Egypt, it has been found in Somaliland, and outside 
of Africa it extends to Arabia, Syria, Persia, Transcaspia, and North-western India. 
