THE GREEN PIT VIPER, TRIMERESURUS GRAMINEUS, 



IN CHINA 



By Leonhakd Stejneger 

 Bead Curator of Biology, United States National Musewn 



INTRODUCTION 



The green bamboo pit viper, as a comprehensive species, extends 

 over a vast area of southeastern Asia, from the Himalayas through 

 India (not in Ceylon) , Burma, Siam, Tonkin, Annam, Southern China, 

 and Formosa, south through the Malay Peninsula to the Malay 

 Archipelago. Various attempts have been made to subdivide the 

 species, but on account of the great variability of the characters 

 available for the discrimination of the geographic forms^ none of 

 these attempts has been generally accepted. In addition an erro- 

 neous nomenclature and absence of geographic correlation has caused 

 great confusion. 



Lack of sufficient data and material prevents a thorough investi- 

 gation of the whole question in this connection, but enough is on 

 hand to indicate the status of the species in China and adjacent 

 territory. 



Before examining into the question of the various forms occurring 

 in China and the value of the characters by which they may be 

 recognized, it seems best to review briefly and chronologically the 

 previous efforts in the same direction. 



Gray, who recorded the species under the name Trwiesunts mridis, 

 was the first (1842) to separate the South China specimens collected 

 by Reeves as T. alholabris on the strength of a narrowness of the 

 supraocular. In 1853 he made another addition by calling one of 

 the specimens obtained by Hooker in Sikkim T. ele^ans, whilfe re- 

 ferring the other to typical T. viridis {= grmnineus) . The distinc- 

 tion was again drawn from the "superciliary shield" (that is, supra- 

 ocular), it being "large" in the latter, while "very small, rudi- 

 mentary, linear" in the former in addition to smoother scales and 

 certain color differences, namely, the narrowness of the lateral streak 

 and the absence of the reddish-brown streak beneath it. 



No. 2715.— Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 72, Art. 19. 



59356—27 1 



