150 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Mar., 



The lighter color of the venter extends to the 4th row of scales 

 in the younger specimens. In these, usually at the neck of the 

 light interval, there appears one or two blue-black spots to suggest 

 the almost complete invasion of the body color upon these areas in 

 the large specimens where the light areas seldom reach the 2d row 

 of scales and where there are large central black spots on the scales. 

 Our specimens have 63, 64 and 65 light vertical bars or wedges, 

 respectively, or from 50-53 from the anus forward. Curiously 

 enough, the two specimens which we first took alive, one 151.7 cm. 

 long and the other 43 cm., were ivhite beneath, and not red. The 

 other preserved specimen has also the whitish appearance. Two 

 of the specimens in alcohol may possibly have a slight tinge of 

 pinkish, but it is faint if present at all; surely, it is not yellow. These 

 three white-bellied Farancias are noteworthy. H. H. Brimley^* 

 took a large white-bellied adult male, which was coiled with a normal 

 male and female in coitu, but our specimens, however, are not all 

 adults, one being only 43 cm., the largest, 151.7 cm., and another 

 intermediate 81.1 cm. The native present when we caught the 

 largest specimen asserted that he had seen red-bellied forms of this 

 snake, and, in December, 1913, Profs. Needham and Bradley saw. a 

 beautiful red-bellied individual of this species. 



Dimensions and Variatio7is. — The gastrosteges were 194, 195 and 

 196, respectively, in our three specimens; the urosteges, 39, 39, 42; 

 the scales 19-19-19; supralabials 7; eye over 3d and 4th supralabial; 

 infralabials 8; loreal elongate; temporals 1-2; nasal with groove 

 below nostril; in C. U., No. 6,108, a groove above the nostril as well; 

 anal plate and the gastrostege before it divided; in the caudal half 

 of the body 6 or 8 rows of scales on the dorsum with a suggestion 

 of a keel on them. 



Habits. — The largest specimen (No. 6,108) was taken in a dark 

 cypress thicket (between Billy's and Gallberry Islands), wherein a 

 Florida barred owl had retreated. In water ankle deep or more 

 our guide accidentally stepped on the snake, thinking it at first a 

 moccasin. He recoiled and then quickly shot it. The smallest 

 specimen (No. 6,107) was secured in the most difficult tangle (Minne 

 Lake trail to Minne Lake Islands) of the whole swamp, where the mag- 

 nificent cypress trees and associated undergrowth were thickest. On 

 a mat of sphagnum it rested, and when alarmed quickly shot down 



23 Brimley, C. S. Zoology of Lake Ellis, N. C, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXII, 

 1909, p. 134. 



