176 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Mar., 



men with a few reddish bars evident on the sides has a yellow venter 

 with black gastrostegal borders not strong, but on the end of each 

 gastrostege the blue-black of the back encroaches for |-f of an inch 

 and makes a striking lateral border for the yellow of the middle of 

 the venter. Finally, we have another specimen (No. 6,231) with 

 scales 21-25-21 and dorsum grayish-black above. The only marks 

 evident are transverse white dorsal bands J scale wide which become 

 less distinct as the belly is reached. The entire underparts are 

 grayish-white with gastrostegal borders grayish-black. These bor- 

 ders surrounding the urosteges make two rows of encircled spots on 

 the under surface of the tail. It is, we believe, a T. fasciatus, yet far 

 from the ordinary coloration. 



Dimensions and Variations. — These specimens vary in length 

 from 28-118.7 cm., the tail from 7.9-29 cm., or 3.5-4.5, average 

 3.7 in the whole length; gastrosteges are from 123-133, the urosteges 



6225 6116 6119 



6225 6116 6231 



Fig. 11. — Tropidonotus fasciatus (Linn.). 



from 67-85; supralabials 8; infralabials 10, rarely 11, sometimes 

 10-11 as in two specimens or 11-12 as in one; the temporals are 1-3 

 in seven specimens, in one of which on both sides the first temporal 

 has captured the normal third temporal of the second row; in No. 

 6,118 the temporals are 1-2; in No. 6,226, 1-2 on the undestroyed 

 side; in No. 6,225, 1-3 on the right side and 1-2 on the left side. 

 The oculars are 1-3 in eight specimens, but one of these (No. 6,116) 

 has the upper and lower postoculars Avith a strong start towards 

 subdivision, which if completed might give 5 oculars in all; in No. 

 6,119, the oculars are 1-2, and No. 6,231 on its undestroyed side 

 has 1-2. Thus, we see in ten specimens a strong tendency for the 

 temporal and ocular formulae to vary. The published evidence and 

 material at hand at the present date is not sufficient to determine 

 whether T. compressicaudus and its subspecies, T. bisectiis, T. fascia- 

 tus and its subspecies and T. rhombifera are other than of the T. 

 fasciatus assemblage, and thus we would be inclined to treat them 



