PSAMMOPHIS SIB1LANS. 307 
I am indebted to the courtesy of Professor Lonnberg for the opportunity to give the 
foregoing figure (fig. 12) of the type of this species preserved in the Museum at 
Upsala. 
It was first described by Linnaeus, in 1749, in the account he gave of the contents of 
the Museum of King Adolphus Frederick in the first volume of the ' Amcen. Ac' The 
specimen there appears as " 30 Anguis scutis abdominalibus CLX, squamis cau- 
dalibus C " (p. 302 x ), but in the more detailed account of the specimen that follows it 
is stated to have had 160 or 159 ventrals. Mr. Smit counted the ventrals and sub- 
caudals at my request, and he informs me that two countings of the former yielded 159, 
and two of the latter 100. The anal is divided, and it may possibly be this that led 
Linnaeus to put down the ventrals at 160, while he says at the same time " vel 159." 
There are 17 rows of scales on the body. The total length of the specimen is 950 millim., 
of which the tail forms 305 millim. The bottle containing the specimen, which 
Prof. Einar Lonnberg says is in good condition, bears two labels in the handwriting of 
Thunberg, Linnaeus's successor at Upsala, as follows : — "Coluber sibilans, Mus. Ad.Frid."; 
and a third, more modern, as follows : — " U. U. Z. M. Linn. Saml. No. 30 Mus. Principis. 
Coluber sibilans, Psammophis sibilans." Professor Lonnberg says that " the description 
of the coloration given by Linnaeus (Am. Acad. i. p. 303) is very complete, and its 
correctness may yet be proved on the specimen," — which is wonderful, considering that 
it has been almost 150 years in alcohol. 
1 In Linnasus's copy of the first volume of the Amoen. Ac, preserved in the Linnean Society's Library, the 
word Anguis of the above description is erased, and on the margin there occurs, in Linnaeus's handwriting, 
Coluber sibilans. 
2r 2 
