33(j BATEACHIANS AND LAND REPTILES 



Bpicrates steiatds (Fischer). 

 Homalochilus striatus Fischer, 1856, Abhandl. Nat. ver. Hamburg, Bd. lii, p. 102. 



The big boa found on New Providence was described by Cope as distinct 

 from the Haitian species and named Homalochiliis strigilatus. A careful com- 

 parison of two specimens from the type locality, one of which was collected by 

 Mr. Eiley, with five specimens from Haiti and Santo Domingo, fails to discover 

 any tangible differences in color or scutellation. It should be emphasized that 

 the Few Providence specimens show no approximation towards the Cuban 

 E. angulifer Bibron, which there is no reason whatever for connecting trinomi- 

 nally with the Haitian species. 



Tropidophis paedalis (Gundlach). 

 Boa pardalis Gundlach, 1840, Arch. Naturg., i, p. 359. 



The generic name Tropidophis based by Bibron, in 1840, upon Schlegel's 

 Boa melanura, antedates Gray's Ungalia by two years. This species was origi- 

 nally described from Cuba, but has hitherto been regarded as T. maculata 

 (Bibron), also from Cuba. Mr. Barbour has now shown that it is the species 

 with fewer ventrals which occurs in the Bahamas, unless indeed both are found 

 there. On these points I am unable to form an opinion, as I have no material. 

 The following remarks were penned before the receipt of Mr. Barbour's paper. 



Cope " maintains the distinctness of his Tropidophis hmtiana, asserting 

 that in the latter " the scale rows are 29 and no interparietal plates, while in 

 Cuban T. maculata the scales never exceed 25 tows and are usually 23," while 

 the interparietals " are always present." These characters are not so constant 

 as he seems to think, for Boulenger records a Cuban specimen in the British 

 museum as having 27 scale rows and the U. S. National Museum has another 

 (27455). On the other hand, Boulenger quotes a Santo Domingan specimen 

 having only 25. Yet it may probably be said that the majority of Haitian and 

 Santo Domingan examples have 27 to 29 scale rows, and the majority of Cuban 

 specimens 23 to 25. It is probably also true that the majority of the latter 

 have interparietals and that the former mostly lack them. None of our speci- 

 mens show an exception from this rule. But if the specimen figured by Jan " 

 is really from Santo Domingo, as stated in the text (p. 75), it is an instance 



" Proc. Phila. Acad., 1894, p. 436. 



« Icon. Ophld., livr. 5, 1864, pi. 11, fig. 1, 



