288 THE EEPTILES OF EGYPT. 
CCELOPELTIS. 
Ccelopeltis, Wagler, Syst. Amph. 1830, p. 189. 
Head distinct from the neck ; snout rather acute ; canthus rostralis present ; supra- 
ocular strong, projecting beyond the eye ; loreal more or less quadrate ; frontal long 
and narrow ; pupil round ; nostril in single or divided shield ; scales smooth, with 
apical pits, in 17 or 19 x rows, longitudinal mesial line more or less concave ; ventrals 
rounded ; subcaudals double ; 10 to 17 subequal maxillary teeth, separated posteriorly 
from one or two terminal long grooved fangs ; six or seven anterior maxillary teeth, 
much enlarged, but decreasing in length about the fifth, and followed by about 17 small 
teeth, diminishing in size from before backwards. 
C. monspessulana has been shown by Peracca and Deregibus 2 to be furnished with 
a well-developed poison-gland that lies behind the eye, corresponding in position to 
the fifth, sixth, and seventh upper labials, and placed in direct relation with the very 
large grooved fang situated below the posterior border of the eye. Their experiments 
proved that the bite of Ccelopeltis is fatal to birds, lizards, and frogs, but that the 
grooved tooth must remain in the wound for one or two minutes to produce such a 
result. Jourdan 3 , who has experimented with small mammals, states that the venom 
of Ccelopeltis has an activity comparable to that of the viper. He says that if due 
precautions are taken that a limb be bitten by the hinder grooved tooth the victims 
died very rapidly. 
Ccelopeltis monspessulana, Hermann. (Plate XXXVII. fig. 4.) 
? Coluber hannasch asuced, Forskll, Descr. Anim. 1775, pp. viii et 15. 
Coluber monspessulanus, Hermann, Obs. Zool. i. 1804, p. 283 ; Duges, Ann. Sc. Nat. (2) iii. 1835, 
p. 137, pi. v. b, figs. 1-6; de Betta, Cat. Syst., sect. i. Rept. Europ. 1853, p. 20. 
Couleuvre, Savigny, Descr. de PEgypte, Hist. Nat., Suppl. pi. Rept. pi. v. (1812) figs. 2i-22 
& 3 i-3 2. 
Coluber (Natriz) monspessulanus, Merr. Syst. Amph. 1820, p. 130. 
Natrix lacertina, Wagler. Spis, Nov. Sp. Serp. Brasil. 1824, p. 18, pi. 5. 
Coluber neumayeri, Fitz. Neue Class. Rept. 1826, p. 57. 
Coluber rupestris, Risso, Hist. Nat. Eur. Mend. iii. 1826, p. 91. 
Malpolon lacertinus, Fitz. Neue Class. Rept. 1826, p. 59. 
Coluber tesculapii, Duges, Ann. Sc. Nat. xii. 1827, p. 394, pi. xlvi. fig. 17; Gervais, op. cit. (2) vi. 
1836, p. 312. 
1 Boettger records 20. 
: Giorn. R. Ac. Med. Torino, 6 June, 1883 ; Biol. Centralb. iv. 1885 ; Arch. Ital. Biol. v. 1885. 
3 Comptes Rendns Ac. Sc. csviii. 1894. 
