NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 253 



Var. without temporal spot. 

 One sp. Para. Col. Abert. 



Var. without temporal spot or tail streak. 

 One sp. Buenos Ayres. Mr. Kennedy. 



Young, muzzle short, neck with transverse blotches. 

 One sp. Surinam. Dr. Colhoun. 



One sp. Panama. Dr. Ruschenberger. 



116. L. conirostris Gthr. Cat. Brit. Mus. p. 46. 

 The longitudinal dorsal bands are indistinct anteriorly. 



One sp. ? Dr. Wilson. 



One sp. Buenos Ayres. Mr. Kennedy. 



117. L. melanonotus nobis. Coluber melanotus Shaw, Zool. p. 534, 1802. 

 Coronella melanotus Boie, Isis, 1827, 532, and C. bilineata ditto, p. 525. ? Col. 

 vaninus Bonnat. Col. vlttatus Hall. Proe. Acad. Nat. Sci. ii. 242, 1845. Lio- 

 phis vittatus Cope, 1. c. 1859, p. 297. 



Ten sp. Near Caraccas. Dr. S. Ashmead. 



One sp. West Indies. Mr. Engstrom. 



118. L. line at us nobis. Coluber Uneatus Linn. Coronella fineata Boie. 

 Lygophis Uneatus Fitz. Herpetodryas Uneatus Schl. Ess. ii. 191. Dromicus 

 Uneatus D. & B. vii. p. 655. Gthr. Cat. Brit. Mus. 134. 



Two sp. Surinam. Dr. Hering. 



Two sp. " Dr. Calhoun. 



Pliocercus nobis. Type P. elapoides. 



Body cylindrical ; head scarcely distinct ; tail two-fifths of the total length. 

 Cephalic plates normal : two pre-, two postoculars, one loreal, two nasals. 

 Anal scute bifid. Scales smooth. Dentition as in Lampropeltis ; i. e. the 

 posterior superior maxillaries not isolated, longer, much recurved and smooth. 



The great length of the tail separates this genus from Lampropeltis and 

 Erythrolamprus : it unites the dentition of the former with the preanal scute 

 of the latter. Coronella and Phimothyra ?iobis have comparatively short tails. In 

 Coniophanes the head is more distinct, the body more slender and not so 

 firmly cylindrical. 



119. P. elapoides nobis. 



Rostral plated just visible from above : prefontals one third the size of the 

 postfrontals. Length and breadth of the vertical plate equal to the suture of 

 the occipitals. The latter are oval, and rounded behind. Jive marginal 

 temporals on each side. Upper preocular large, not reaching the vertical ; 

 inferior one very small, partially between the third and fourth superior labials. 

 Height and length of loreal equal. Eight superior labials, fourth and fifth enter- 

 ing the orbit. Inferior labials eight, the last three times as long as the seventh, 

 sixth largest ; these three plates border within a large shield which diverges 

 from the outer posterior extremity of the posterior geneial. Two equal pairs 

 of elongated geneials. Scales in seventeen longitudinal rows. Gastrosteges 

 131 ; urosteges 89 pair. Total length of adult, 19 in. 9 1., tail 7 in. 6 1. 



Coloration. The ground color is brilliant red, which encircles the body 

 above and below in bands of from four to six scales in width. These are 

 separated by triads of black rings including yellow intervals, ten or eleven 

 on the body, one at the anus, and six or seven on the tail. The outer ring 

 of each triad is one and a half scales wide, and is not continued on the belly ; 

 the yellow interval is of the same width, and the central black ring is three 

 and a half or four scales wide. The first triad is upon the head and neck ; 

 the central black ring is seven or eight scales wide and does not extend upon 

 the neck, but involves the ends of the occipitals and the last upper labial. The 

 anterior yellow ring crosses the occipitals, and involves one and a half tempo- 



1860.J 



