REPTILIA. 
23 
tendency to be broken into spots, and the bands along the sides of the tail are faint or 
wanting. Otherwise there appears to be no constant difference. 
The colouration is that of the form to which Dr. Strauch has given the name of 
%-fedtschenkoi, and which is mainly distinguished from the typical Z. ravergieri by the 
tail being spotted instead of striped. Dr. Strauch adds that, as a rule, in Z. fedtschenkoi 
the number of longitudinal rows of scales is twenty-three, twenty-one being the exception, 
whilst the reverse is found in Z. ravergieri. He also calls attention to a slight difference 
111 the form of the head, which is rather broader and less depressed in the first-named form. 
fedtschenkoi is said to be common in Russian Turkestan. 
In the three specimens from Eastern Turkestan, the rows of scales round the body are 
twenty-one in number, and the head is of the same form as in typical Z. ravergieri. I have 
already 1 shown that the two forms pass into each other in Persia, and the specimens from 
-Eastern Turkestan tend to the same conclusion. 
In both the specimens from Yangihissar, there are three postoculars on each side, but only 
tw °, as usual, in the Yarkand example. In the latter there are 222 ventrals and ninety-one 
pairs of subcaudals. 
20. Tropidonottjs hydrtts. 
1, Kashghar ; 2-15, Yangihissar, Eastern Turkestan. 
This snake is apparently as common in Eastern Turkestan as it is, according to Strauch, 3 
. ar tker to the westward. The specimen from Kashghar was procured on the 2nd February, and 
ls n °ted on the label as having been found frozen in a field ; the Yangihissar specimens were 
ejected in April. 
The majority of the snakes of this species obtained in Eastern Turkestan appear to have 
e postoculars. They are olivaceous above, with the back spots rather indistinct as a rule, 
a ad a great portion of the ventral shields is black. 
21. Tropidonotus platyceps. 
1, Mari ; 2, 3, Kashin ir. 
jj. ^ can see no difference between these specimens and those from other parts of the 
lma layas. This species, which had previously been obtained by Dr. J erdon in Kashmir, 3 
to f? arS to * )e one °f the Himalayan forms, like Compsosoma hodgsom, wliich range farther 
l( ' aorth-west than do most of the species characteristic of the Himalayan region. 
Family — PSAMMOPHIDuE. 
22. Taphrometopum lineolattjm. 
c oluler ( Taphrom etopon) lineolatum, Brandt : Bull. Ac. Sci. St. Pet., iii, p. 243 (1837) Peters : Proc. 
Zool. Soc., 1861, p. 47. 
1 Eastern Persia, ii, p. 418. | 2 Schlang. Russ. Reichs., p. 173- 
3 Stoliczka: Jour. As. Soc. Bengal, 1870, xxxix, Pt. 2, p. 192. 
