NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 259 



132. E. intricatus Dum. and Bibr. vii. p. 855. 



Var. scales of the white (red or yellow) spaces without black tips. 

 One sp. S. America, Dr. Neill. 



133. E. venustissimus Bote, 1. c. Coronella venustissima Schl. Essai ii. 

 p. 53. Erythr. venustissimus Dum. Bibr. vii. 851. Giinther Cat. Brit. Mus. 47. 



Var. B. Dum. Bibr. 



Two sp. S. America, Mr. Cuming in ex. 



Var. ? Head black from a single collar forward, except anterior halves of 

 upper labials, which are red. The vertical plate appears to be broader 

 anteriorly than ordinarily, but the specimen is not in sufficiently good state of 

 preservation to offer distinct characters. 



One sp. S. America, Dr. Strain. 



134. E. Aesculapii Wagler, Nat. Syst. Amphib. 187. Dum. etBibr. vii. 

 p. 845. Coronella venusta Schleg. Essai, i. p, 135. 



Var. D. Dam. Bibr. 1. c. p. 849. 



One sp. Surinam, Dr. Hering. 



In this specimen twenty-two pairs of reddish brown rings encircle the body 

 from head to tail. These bands are three and a half scales wide and are sepa- 

 rated by equal light spaces of one scale in width. It is only on the belly that 

 the former appear in pairs. Head as in the true Aesculapii. A species ? 



Var. E. nobis. 



The distribution of colors on the head as usual. Twelve pairs of black rings, 

 those of each pair becoming confluent on the middle of the back. The broad 

 interspaces are shaded with brown, which is deeper on the tip of each scale. 



This variety (a species ?) resembles the C of Dumeril & Bibron, where the 

 rings composing the pairs are separated by a very narrow interval, and the 

 spaces between the pairs are very dark. 



One spec. Surinam, Dr. Colhoun. 



135. E. a lb os t olatu s nobis. 



Number of the plates of the head the same as in the venustissimus . 

 In form, the fifth and sixth upper labials are narrower and higher ; and the 

 formulas, vertical, and superciliaries, are broader. The eye is larger, the 

 temporal region more swollen, and the whole head deeper and more obtuse. 

 Rows of scales fifteen. Gastrosteges, 167 ; one divided anal ; urosteges, 48. 



The ground color of the upper and under surface of this serpent is white, 

 as a note made by Mr. Samuel Ashmead, its discoverer, at the time of iti 

 capture, informs us. This is crossed on the body, by ten or thirteen black 

 single rings four or five scales wide, and from seven to twelve scales apart. 

 Another ring crosses at the anus, and there are two double rings on the tail. 

 The scales in the white intervals are broadly tipped with black. The distri- 

 bution of color on the head, much as in E. venustissimus. There is 

 a broad black collar which crosses the tips of the occipitals and does not 

 encircle the throat. The fifth and sixth upper labials, the first temporal, the 

 tips of the plates adjoining them posteriorly, and a spot on the occipitals, are 

 white. The rostral, first two labials, nasals and loreal are bordered with the 

 same, the rest of the head is black. Chin immaculate. 



One specimen. Jijuca, near Rio Janeiro, Mr. S. A. Ashmead. 



One " ? ? 



Scolecophis Fitz. Type S. atrocinctus. 



Systema Reptilium, 1842, p. 25. Homalocranion Dum. & Bibr. viii. 855. 

 Giiiither, Cat. Brit. Mus. 18. 



136. S. zonatus nobis. Elaps zonatus Hallowell, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. 

 New Series, vol iii. p. 35. 



This species is very similar to the S. atrocinctus of Chili. It differs 



I860.] 



