NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 251 



the distinctions would not be borne out. The number of rows of scales is fif- 

 teen ; the superior labials are seven, eye resting ou third and fourth, as ia 

 sometimes the case in punctatus. Color above light brownish olive, a 

 broad yellow collar, bordered with black as in punctatus. Each gastros- 

 tege has a brown dot at its extremity, and the central part of the margin the 

 same color, forming a series of transversely elongated spots. Fifth and sixth 

 upper labials each with a brown dot. Symphyseal and lower labials with a 

 brown dot in the centre of each, two on each anterior geneial, one at the pos- 

 terior end of postgeneials and of all the throat scales. 

 One specimen, locality and donor unknown. 



109. D. dysope s nobis. Scales in 15 rows ; superior labials eight, eye 

 resting on the fourth and fifth ; inferior labials eight. Color above olivaceous 

 slate blue, beneath light yellowish brown, with three longitudinal rows of 

 spots. A very narrow yellow collar involving a part only of each scale that 

 it crosses, and bordered with blackish. Upper borders of superior labials 

 (not temporals) black. It is in the form of the head that it it differs from the 

 punctatus most strikingly. The muzzle is very short, rounded and de- 

 pressed; hence the rostral, frontrals and anterior labials are very small. The 

 ioreal is a little smaller than the tipper postocular. The vertical is small, the 

 lateral borders convergent. Superciliaries short and broad, occipitals long, 

 bordered by five temporal plates on each side. Breadth of the head at the 

 angle of the mouth but little less than the length anterior to the same point. 



One specimen, locality and donor unknown. 



Size equal to that of an adult punctatus. Though small, this serpent has 

 a malignant expression, hence the name. 



Coutia Bd. & Grd. Type C. m i t i s . 



Catalogue Rept. Smiths. Inst. Serpents, p. 110, 1862. 



This genus is allied to Tseniophis Girard, but is of a stouter and more de- 

 pressed form, and has but one nasal plate. The teeth are minute and equal. 



110. C. m i ti s Bd.Sj- Grd. 1. c. 



One specimen, Petaluma, Cal. Smiths. Institution. 



111. C. episcopa nobis. Lamprosoma episcopum Kennicott, U. S. and 

 Mex. Bound. Survey, ii. pt. ii. p. 22, 1859, pl.xxi. fig. 1. 



It is now the opinion of Mr. Kennicott that this small serpent does not be- 

 long to the Lamprosoma of Hallowell. We concur with him in this, and be- 

 lieve that it cannot be generically distinguished from the species just preced- 

 ing. It resembles certain Calamarian genera, but were its size quadrupled the 

 similarity would probably disappear. 



One sp. Rio Seco, Texas, Smiths. Inst. 



Liophis Wagler. Type L. r e g i n a e . 



Natur. Syst. Amphib. p. 187, 1830. Dum. etBibr. vii. 697, 1854. Giinther, 

 Cat. Colubr. Brit. Mus. 42, 1858. Dromicus (Bibron) Dum. Bibr. vii. 646 et 

 Gthr. 1. c. 126, pars. Lygophis (Fitz.) Tschudi pars. 



We have included in this genus the Dromicus melanonotus and D. 

 lineatus of modern authors. It appears to us impossible to establish any 

 generic distinction between these species and the L. reginae, while their 

 comparatively short tails will separate them from the slender Dromicus f u g i - 

 t i v u s and congeners. It is here that the coronelline form seems to pass 

 into the true colubrine. 



I860.] 



