DRYMOBIUS. 127 
4, Drymobius dendrophis. 
Herpetodryas dendrophis, Schleg. Phys. Serp. ii. p. 196; and Abbild. t. 44. figg. 25-28; Giinth. 
Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1863, xii. p. 358, t. 6. fig. B. 
Dendrophidium dendrophis (Fitz.), Cope, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc. 1886, p. 278. 
Dendrophidion dendrophis, Bocourt, Miss. Sc. Mex., Rept. p. 730, t. 49. figg. 4,4a-d; and Le Natu- 
raliste, 1889, p. 46, figg. 1-4. 
Drymobius dendrophis, Cope, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. no. 32, p. 70. 
Herpetodryas poitei, Dum. & Bibr. Erpét. vii. p. 208. 
Herpetodryas brunneus, Salv. P. Z. 8S. 1860, p. 456 (nec Ginth.). 
Herpetodryas nuchalis, Peters, MB. Ak. Wiss. Berl. 1863, p. 285. 
Dendrophidium melanotropis, Cope, Journ. Ac. N. Sc. Phil. viii. p. 134, t. 26. fig. 1 (1875). 
Elaphis melanotropis, Cope, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. no. 32, p. 71. 
Dendrophidium chloroticum, Cope, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc. xxiii. p. 278 (1886). 
Hab. Guatemaa, Vera Paz, between Coban and Lanquin (Salvin), Peten (Morelet), 
Coban (Cope); Mexico (Sallé); Nicaragua (Cope); Costa Rica (Gabs).—Soutn 
America, Cayenne, Venezuela, ? Ecuador. 
This snake varies considerably in the length of the tail, as may be seen from the 
following table :— 
A. Specimen from Vera Paz, g. 161 Ventrals. Anal divided. 105 subcaudals. 
B. » oe 9 2 g. 139 yy) 9 entire. 140 » 
C. ” ” 2” 2” 160 “y9 ” divided. 117 »” 
D. 2” ” 2» yy 163 29 a) 9 153 29 
E. Sy » Guatemala, g. 154 » - » 119 > 
Shields of the head regular, the anterior frontals about two-fifths the size of the 
posterior; vertical as long as the suture between the occipitals, with the lateral 
margins convergent posteriorly. Loreal as high as long or longer than high; one 
preocular raised to the surface of the crown, but not reaching the vertical. Two, some- 
times three, postoculars. Nine upper labials, the fourth, fifth, and sixth entering the 
orbit, or ten upper labials, the fifth, sixth, and seventh being below the eye. Eye 
large, its longitudinal diameter being equal to its distance from the nostril, and in 
young specimens it is proportionally even larger. Scales more or less strongly keeled ; 
sometimes one, sometimes more, of the outer series of scales being smooth ; in seventeen 
rows. Maxillary teeth gradually increasing in size posteriorly, the posterior being 
conspicuously larger and stronger than the middle ones; thirty-two or thirty-four in 
number. 
The ground-colour may be brownish-olive or even blackish. Young specimens have 
the body ornamented with irregular, blackish-edged, narrow cross-bands, more conspi- 
cuous on the anterior than on the posterior part of the body; sometimes these bands 
are modified into narrow blackish bars enclosing lighter-coloured ocelli. With age 
this ornamental colour generally disappears entirely or traces of it are visible only on 
