DASTPELTIS SCABEA. 279 
third and fourth, or second and third, entering the orbit ; anterior chin-shields large, 
in contact with three lower labials ; posterior chin-shields about half the size of the 
anterior, in contact with two labials. 23 to 27 scales round the body. 185-263 
ventrals ; anal 1 ; subcaudals 41-94. 
Colour above olive, greyish, or dark brown, occasionally uniformly so, or with a 
dorsal series of large, dark brown, more or less elongately oval or round spots, some 
more or less slightly bifurcate posteriorly ; a lateral series of smaller brown spots 
along the side, alternating with the former, and every third or fourth pair of ventrals 
with a black spot on the angles. Head obscurely marbled with dark brown and greyish, 
with a A-shaped mark from the parietals backwards obliquely to the angle of the mouth* 
and a more or less similarly shaped but much broader mark on the nape, sometimes 
broken up into a large dorsal spot, with a smaller spot obliquely behind it. Upper 
labials with dusky sutures. Uuderparts yellowish, immaculate, or spotted with brown 
or black. 
The coloration of the Egyptian snake is practically identical with that of the type 
described by Linnaeus. There are, however, certain variations, all of which have 
been indicated by Mr. Boulenger. In some the dorsal spots become more or less 
confluent as a zigzag vertebral band, and a black stripe runs along the upper surface 
of the tail and the belly is spotted with black ; but the most striking variety is that 
in which the dorsal and lateral • bands unite to form cross-bands and the belly is 
unspotted. There is, however, a still further marked variation in which all the spots 
and markings disappear and the snake is a uniform brown above. Another variety is 
intermediate between the typical form and the latter, as the markings tend to become 
effaced. In Abyssinia snakes conforming to the Egyptian specimen are found, but 
with the ventrals edged with black. 
It attains to a length of 760 millim., of which the tail measures 105 millim. 
Gasco, who was the first to record the presence of this species in Egypt, states that 
he obtained 8 examples in Middle Egypt, but in what part of it he does not mention. 
After much correspondence with those in Egypt who have been assisting me in my 
researches, at last, through the efforts of Mr. A. E. Birdwood, after I had almost 
given up all hope of finding this species, I received the specimen herein recorded alive, 
and am thus enabled to give a figure of it from life. It was obtained in the Fayum. 
This species has a wide distribution over Africa, from Sierra Leone to Somaliland, 
southwards to the Cape of Good Hope, and northwards along the valley of the Nile 
to within about 140 miles of the Mediterranean. 
Possibly one reason why this species has been overlooked, until 1876, may be due 
to the circumstance that it may have been avoided on account of its extremely close 
resemblance to EcJiis carinatus. In coloration they are almost identical. The similarity 
of the two extends even to the character of their scales, in this respect, that in the 
poisonous Echis, as in this harmless egg-eater, some of the outer rows of the dorsal 
