ZOOLOGY 189 
angry or excited. In a specimen which was killed with a spear upon the trail, 
the nematode parasite Ophidascaris filaria described on page 426, was found in 
the intestine. 
Atractaspis corpulenta, which is a shorter viper, perhaps three feet in length, 
and which is thicker in body, has poison fangs only in the front of the upper 
jaw and no other teeth behind. It is much less dangerous than the other four 
species of Liberian vipers. 
The typhlopine snake, Typhlops punctatus (synonym, 7’. liberiensis), is com- 
mon. This snake, which has become specialized for life underground, and 
which subsists especially upon insects and small worms, has nearly lost the 
use of its eyes which are very minute. The mouth, also, is small. The head 
is so like the tail that the natives often term it the ‘“‘two headed snake.” It 
bears considerable resemblance to the large blue-green earth worm so common 
in Liberia, with which it may be confused unless carefully examined. 
Two species of python are found in Liberia, — Python sebae and Calabaria 
reinhardti. The latter, sometimes called the burrowing python, was observed 
by Allen in the basin of the St. Paul River. It has a relatively small head 
and is rarely over four feet in length. The P. sebae is of course much larger; 
specimens twenty feet in length are not uncommon. In one of these pythons 
we found the two intestinal parasites, a cestode (Bothridium ovatum) and a 
nematode Ophidascaris filaria described in Chapter XX VII. In the lizard Agama 
colonorum and the bat Petalia grandis, Plasmodia were found in the blood. These 
are described on pages 492, 493. 
The Expedition has been particularly fortunate in having had Dr. Thomas 
Barbour and Mr. A. Loveridge study the collection of reptiles and amphibians 
from Liberia, made by Dr. Allen and his associates. They point out that until 
now there have been but nineteen known species of amphibians recorded from 
Liberia, while thirty-three were secured on the present Expedition. As a result 
of their study of the entire collection they have found that it contains no less 
than thirty-three species, now recorded for the first time. They also have found 
that in the reptilian collection, in which forty-one species are represented, 
many are recorded also for the first time. Among them is the arboreal cobra, 
Naja goldii. Notes regarding the specimens with a list of the new species, are 
given in Chapter XX XV. 
ENTOMOLOGY 
Almost nothing was known of the entomology of the interior of Liberia prior 
to the present expedition and very little collecting of insects had been carried 
on in the country. The entomological work of the present expedition was 
planned not with the idea of making a miscellaneous collection of all orders of 
insects, but rather of obtaining as complete a representation as possible of certain 
groups interesting from a biological or pathological point of view — especially 
the blood-sucking Diptera. 
Obnoxious insects are not so prevalent in Liberia, either on the coast or in the 
interior, as they are in many other parts of the tropical zone. Indeed, at certain 
