518 PROCEEDINGS OE THE ACADEMY OF 



pressed. Muzzle rounded ; eye very large, with a round pupil. Rostral plate 

 broader than high, its superior border rounded. Prefontals small ; post- 

 frontals large, bent upon the sides of the head. Vertical large, longer than 

 broad, its lateral borders concave. Superciliaries very large, arched ; oc- 

 cipital s rather broad, their common suture not longer than the vertical plate, 

 bounded externally by three temporals. Two temporals in contact with the 

 two postoculars. One large preocular not in contact with vertical. Loreal 

 single, not longer than high. Nasals two, the nostril between them large. 

 Superior labials nine, fourth, fifth and sixth entering the orbit. Inferior 

 labials fourteen, second to sixth very narrow ; eighth largest. Scales in 

 twenty -three rows ; anteriorly four or five, posteriorly thirteen median rows 

 weakly keeled. Gastrosteges slightly recurved upon the sides, not angu- 

 lated,*204 in number. A divided anal, urosteges 13b'. Total length 25 in. 

 3 lin. ; tail 7 in. 3 lin. 



Coloration. Ground, a light greyish rufous (tinged with yellow beneath,) 

 densely punctulated above and below, with rufous brown. The upper surface 

 is crossed by about thirty-five transverse crescent shaped, fulvous brown 

 bands, bordered with black. Upon the median line anteriorly these are one 

 or two scales wide, but become much narrower as they are prolonged obliquely 

 backward upon the sides, vanishing upon the third row of scales. Pos- 

 teriorly they are broader, and extend to a dark brown spot, which occupies 

 the ends of every third pair of gastrosteges. A short, deep brown median 

 vitta upon the neck ; a spot of the same at the posterior extremity of the 

 occipital suture, one upon each occipital, and one upon the posterior part 

 of the vertical plate. A light brown band crosses the postfrontal plates, 

 extends through the eye, and for a short distance upon the neck, involving 

 nearly the whole of the last labial shield, and the upper borders of the three 

 anterior to it. Remaining labials and throat light yellow. 



Hab. Honduras. Mus. Smithsonian Institute. Obtained by Mr. A. H. 

 Ruse, of St. Thomas, W. I. 



Tropidodipsas Gthr. is one of the few genera of Dipsadine serpents 

 characterized by the possession of keeled scales. I have referred the present 

 species to it with some hesitation, on account of the difference between the 

 form of its head and that ofT. fasciata. Giinther states that the head of 

 the latter is shorter than that of Dipsas nebulata. In T. lunulata 

 the head is more like that of a Herpetodryas. The dentition is isodont. 



Description of a new genus and species of Amorphozoon, from the Cretaceous 



formation of New Jersey. 



BY W. M. GABB 



I received some time ago from Mr. C. C. Abbott, with some other cretaceous 

 fossils, a small fossil, that I at once referred to the Amorphozoa. I was unable 

 to decide in what genus to place it. After a careful study of the subject, I 

 am satisfied that it cannot belong to any existing genus. It is, however, 

 closely related to Siphonia of Parkinson. I propose the generic name 



Desmatocium, Gatb. 



Gen. char. Elongated, regular in form ; tubulate through the whole length ; 

 stem robust and with several inflations, but no distinct head. 



D. trilobatum. PI. 69, f. 3939 a, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci., 2nd series, 

 vol. 4. 



Length of the fragment 1 inches. Width of smallest lobe f of an inch. 

 Width of second lobe | of an inch. The first lobe is somewhat elongate, the 

 second is more compressed. There have been at least three lobes, but the 

 upper one is broken. 



Near Mullica Hill, N. J. My collection. 



[Nov. 



