514 CAPT. F. WALL ON SNAKES FROM [DeC. 12, 



chevrons on the head, the anterior converging in front of the eyes, 

 divergent behind to form postocular streaks, the posterior con- 

 verging on the frontal, both often obscure or ahnost obliterated. 

 In one the belly was sparsely spotted and in another was whitish 

 and uns]Dotted. The young were pinkish-brown or dove-coloured 

 with small black dorsal spots, with an inclination to a transverse 

 distribution ; the belly whitish cheqviered black. One Hondo 

 adult specimen had preserved the peculiar colouring and doi-sal 

 spots of the young, but the belly was rosy, as is usual in adults. 

 In this specimen the scales in mid-body counted 23. The example 

 obtained in Tanega Island was a very distinct colour-variety, 

 singularly I'esembling a Dinodon jcqjonicus at first sight. • It was 

 light brown with well-defined black bars, as wide as the intervals. 

 A series of large spots in the flanks alternated wdth the dorsal 

 bars. The usual head-marks were present and the belly was 

 chequered black and white. 



5. Coluber climacophorus. — All the eleven specimens were 

 obtained from Japan (Hondo). In four specimens the scales were 

 25 in mid-body, in all the rest 23. The subocular was absent in 

 one. Temporals three in one. Postoculars three on one side 

 in two. Anterior chins touched four infralabials in two. One 

 captured on 6th July contained 14 eggs with no trace of embryo, 

 the largest of which measured 2" x li^". 



6. Coluber quadrivirgatus. — Of 32 examples, 30 were collected 

 in Japan (Hondo) and two in the Island of Yaku. In one Hondo 

 specimen the suj)ralabials were nine with the fifth and sixth 

 touching the eye on one side. Postoculars three on one side in 

 one specimen. Nearly all belonged to Boulenger's Variety A*. 

 The young were lighter in colour, with well-marked spots oi' cross- 

 bars, but the longitudinal stripes faint or absent. One of the 

 Yaku specimens belonged to Yariety B, and the other w^as inter- 

 mediate between A and B. 



Family Yiperidje. Subfamily Crotalin^. 



7. Ancistrodon blomhoffii.— Of 41 specimens, 39 were from 

 Japan (Hondo 38, Yezo 1), one from Tanega Island, and one 

 from Yaku Island f. In only one Hondo specimen were the 

 scales 23 in the middle of the body, but this number was present 

 in both the specimens from Tanega and Yaku. The ventrals and 

 subcaudals in the Yaku example were 143 + 53, and in the Tanega 

 example the ventrals were 142. One had eaten a frog. One 

 captured on the 27th June contained three immature eggs with 

 no trace of embryo. 



* Op. cit. vol. ii. p. 60. 



t It is doubtful whether the specimen in the British Museum labelled Okinawa 

 (Boulenger, op. cit. vol. iii. p. 526) is correctly recorded. It appears to be the only 

 specimen reported from the Loo Choo Group of islands, where it is singularly out 

 of place. Tsu Sima is an island in the Corean Strait, and not in the Loo Choos as 

 stated by Boulenger on the same page. 



