1903.] SNAKES OF CHINA AND JAPAN. 91 
3). ZAMENIS SPINALIS. Siam, Hainan, China, Corea, Mongolia. 
This snake is evidently very common in the Yangtse Valley, as 
there are ten specimens in the Siccawei Museum. Concerning 
one which I obtained from Huangtsun, N. China, my donor wrote 
me that he had found it in his verandah, it having dropped, he 
believed, from the roof about 7 feet above. He discovered it in the 
act of devouring a lizard (Gecko subpalmatus). It had seized the 
gecko by the body and was encircling it in its coils. A little later, 
when the captive had exhausted its futile struggles, the sn: ake 
seized it by the snout and began to swallow it. Frontal three- 
fourths to four-fifths parietals. Loreals: two (anterior and 
posterior) on both sides in one specimen, Subocular absent in one 
specimen on one side. Preeoculars : the upper touches the frontal 
in two specimens on both sides. Temporals: two anterior in all 
specimens. Labials: eight, with the fourth and fifth touching 
the eye in two specimens only, the normal arrangement being 
nine, with the fifth and sixth touching the eye. Anterior chin- 
shields in contact with four lower labials in two specimens on both 
sides. Ventrals 179-207. Subcaudals 84-100. 
36. CoLUBER PoRPHYRACEUS. HE. Himalayas, Hills in Assam, 
Burma, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Yunnan (4 2derson). 
37. COLUBER MANDARINUS. Chusan, China (N.W. Fokien, 
Bigr.; Prov. Chihli, WGéll.). I saw one specimen in the Siccawei 
Collection. It is called by the Chinese “‘’ Hua-tai-tsze,” meaning 
variegated girdle (JZdll.). 
38. CoLUBER RUFODORSATUS. KE. Siberia, China, Chusan, For- 
mosa, Hainan.—EHvidently a very common snake. There are five 
in the Shanghai Museum, and a large number at Siccawei. 
Frontal often greater than distance to end of snout. Anterior 
chin-shields in contact with four infralabials in one specimen out 
of fifteen examined. 
39. CoLUBER DIONE. 8. Russia, Transcaucasia, Temperate Asia, 
China, Hainan, Japan (Digr. _—Evidently a very common sn: ake 
in the Yangtse Valley, as the Siccawei Collection contains a large 
number of specimens. I obtained two from an officer in Ching- 
wang-tao, N. China, who told me the snake was common there. 
One specimen contained the brood of some small bird, four in 
number, one of which was still partly enveloped in its shell. 
Frontal often greater than its distance to end of snout, sometimes 
equalling parietals. Preeoculars: three on one side in one speci- 
men. Postoculars: one on both sides in one specimen out of 
sixteen examined. Labials nine, with fourth and fifth touching 
the eye on one side in one Specimen ; nine with fifth and sixth 
touching the eye on one side in two specimens only. Anterior 
chin-shield often greater than posterior, in contact with six 
‘infralabials on both sides in one specimen, and on one side in one 
specimen. Scales in mid-body 23 in three specimens, 25 in ten, 
