NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 305 



The coloration of this handsome Boa is altogether unique in the family. It 

 calls to mind the Phimothyra of the same region. 



Charina p 1 u m b e a Cope. Wenona plumbea et Isabella Bd. et Grd., Catal. 

 Serp. 1853, p. 139. 



The Erycine genus Charina, established by Gray in 1849, has since, as it 

 appears to me, received the names of Wenona, (Bd., Grd.,) Rhoptrura, (Peters. 

 Monatsber. Preuss. Acad. 1858, p. 504), and Calabaria (Gray, P. Z. S. 1858, 155.) 



The two latter authors have not, however, made us acquainted with the os- 

 seous structure of the African species upon which their genera are founded. 

 In the American species the os frontale posterius is wanting, which constitutes 

 an approximation to the Tortricida? : the same peculiarity is possessed by Licha- 

 nura, though its external form does not betray the affinity thus expressed. In the 

 typical subgroup of the Eryces this bone is present. The two species of Baird 

 and Girard's Wenona are probably identical, as suspected by Dr. Cooper, in 

 the Nat. History of Washington Territory. That the C plumbea diners 

 from C. B ottse Gray, appears to us doubtful. The former occurs at Guay- 

 ruas, Sonora. Mus. Comp. Zool. Cambridge. 



TYPHLOPS1D.E. 



Stenostoma bumile Cope. Rena humilis Baird et Girard Catal. Serp. 

 Smiths. Inst., 1853, p. 143. 



Specimens from Cape St. Lucas are identical with those from the parallel 

 of Fort Yuma, east of the mountains. In both I have found the scales to be 

 in fourteen longitudinal rows, not fifteen, as described. 



Rena B. & G. has been stated by Prof. Peters (Monatsbeik Berl. Ac. 1857, 

 402) to be identical with Stenostoma Spix, as is obviously the case. The 

 second species found in the United States, S. dulce, inhabits Texas and 

 Florida (Kirtland coll.) The scales of this also I find to be in fourteen rows.* 



Of the sixteen species of serpents which Mr. Xantus has obtained near 

 Cape St. Lucas, but eight are known to inhabit other regions. Of these, the 

 Lampropeltis and Stenostoma have been found near the head of the Gulf of 

 California. The Trimorphodon may have been found in Arizona. The Phi- 

 mothyra inhabits Chihuahua, Sonora and Arizona ; the Thamnophis, Durango 

 and Coahuila ; Tropidonotus v a 1 i d u s, Durango and Utah ; while Caudisona 

 a t r o x and Drymobius testaceus extend as far east as Texas and Ar- 

 kansas. 



Of the eight peculiar species, seven belong to genera which are represented 

 by allied species in the above regions, Lichanura only not having been found 

 elsewhere. This is evidence of the identity of the Cape fauna with the Sono- 

 ran and New Mexican, as pointed out by Prof. S. F. Baird, Proc. A. N. S. 

 Phila. 1859, p. 299. 



One species of the sixteen (Lampropeltis b o y 1 i i) inhabits the State of Cali- 

 fornia, but the Lucasian specimens have much the character of those of 

 another species (L. s p 1 e n d i d a) found in Arizona. But five of the twelve 

 genera are represented in the first mentioned region. The Californian genus 

 Charina has been found at Guaymas, on the east coast of the Gulf of Califor- 

 nia, but not in Lower California. 



While two of the species inhabit Texas, seven of the genera are represented 

 there. f Those not represented are Hypsiglena, Chilomeniscus, Lichanura, 



* Many of the species noticed in this enumeration have been obtained through, or exist 

 only in, the museum of ihe Smithsonian Institution, Washington. The author desires to 

 express his acknowledgements for the opportunities obtained under the liberal constitu- 

 tion of that institution as interpreted and executed by its Secretary, Prof. Joseph 

 Henry, LL. D. 



tProf. Baird, Pr. A. N. S. Phil. 1859, p. 300, alludes to species allied to Arizona e le- 

 g a n s and Scotophis E m o r y i from the Cape. These I have not seen. 



1861.] 21 



