Herndon G. Dowling

A Proposed Method of Expressing Scale Reductions in Snakes

THE USE of scale reduction formulae, introduced by Ruthven (1908) and revised and expanded by Schmidt and Davis (1941) and Clark and Inger (1942), has aided greatly in the study of variation in snakes and has been used by numerous subsequent workers. Many workers, however, have made changes in the original form, and some of the changes are of such magnitude that the results are not strictly comparable. For this reason I believe that the time is right for proposing a standard system of notation which combines the advantages of the various forms and does away with most of their disadvantages. The significance of using detailed dorsal counts, with particular attention to the scale rows which are added and dropped, was first pointed out by Ruthven (1908: 16-21) in gartersnakes. Thompson (1914: 384) indicated, in the form of a table, the point of loss of dorsal rows by reference to the ventral count opposite the drop. Later, Blanchard (1921: 9-13) initiated an abbreviated form of notation

Relations of Some African Colubrid Snakes

Examination of the mode of scale row reduction and of hemipenial features in the African colubrid snake genera Boaedon, Bothrolycus, Bothrophthalmus, Lamprophis, Lycodonomorphus, and Pseudoboodon validates Bogerts segregation of the genera as a distinctive group. The tribal name Boaedontini is here proposed for the group. Some characteristics of the Boaedontini (e.g., hypapophyses on the posterior dorsal vertebrae and calycylate hemipenes with bifurcate centrifugal sulcus spermaticus) set it aside from the commonly recognized subfamilies Natricinae and Colubrinae. Examination of the mode of scale row reduction and of hemipenial features in the African colubrid snake genera Boaedon, Bothrolycus, Bothrophthalmus, Lamprophis, Lycodonomorphus, and Pseudoboodon validates Bogerts segregation of the genera as a distinctive group. The tribal name Boaedontini is here proposed for the group. Some characteristics of the Boaedontini (e.g., hypapophyses on the posterior dorsal vertebrae and calycylate hemipenes with bifurcate centrifugal sulcus spermaticus) set it aside from the commonly recognized subfamilies Natricinae and Colubrinae. N 1940 Bogert published an arrangement of African colubrid snakes in which he

The Neotropical Snake Genus Nothopsis Cope

The authors of the more recent names, affinis Boulenger and torresi Taylor, appear to have seen no more than three specimens of Nothopsis at the time of the description of their new forms. Furthermore, the specimens upon which these names were based were not compared directly with the type of N. rugosus, but rather were compared with the original description and plate (Cope, 1871: 201-03, pl. 17), parts of which are in error. Examination of 14 specimens, including the type of N. rugosus, provides new information on the variation found in this species, and more precise data on the type specimen (USNM 12427) than has been previously available. On the basis of these data we consider all three nominal forms to be conspecific. Further information is given under the specific name.

A Taxonomic Study of the Ratsnakes, Genus Elaphe Fitzinger. I. The Status of the Name Scotophis laetus Baird and Girard (1853)

be outlined with some exactitude in the United States. Even now, however, there are few good series in collections and many areas are almost unknown herpetologically; but the amount of material that has accumulated in the past few years greatly exceeds that which other workers have had. A study of the material now available has revealed an unfortunate mistake in identification in the Plains Ratsnake. The snake currently referred to as