1889.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 421 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF EUTAENIA. 

 BY ARTHUR ERWIN BROWN. 



Eutaenia nigrolateris, species nov. 



A snake belonging to this genus, now living in the collection of 

 the Zoological Society, presents characters differing from any other 

 sj:>ecies with which I am acquainted, to a degree requiring recogni- 

 tion and to the following description I append the above name. 



Form moderately stout, about as in E. sirtalis. Tail short. 

 Head short and broad, flattened on crown. Vertical and occipitals 

 short and broad ; superciliaries short in front ; one ante-orbital, 

 much elevated and pointed above, in contact with the fronto-exter- 

 nal angle of the vertical ; three post-orbitals, the lower one lying on 

 the 5th and 6th superior labials ; upper labials eight, 6th and 7th 

 largest; lower labials ten, 6th largest. Eye rather large, center just 

 behind the suture between the 4th and 5th labials. A vertical series 

 of three temporals in contact with the post-orbitals, the lower one 

 small and lying on the 6th and 7th labials, but mainly on the 6th ; 

 the middle one above and behind it, is much larger and elongated ; 

 the upper one, somewhat smaller than the last is in contact with 

 the occipitals. On one side, in this specimen, the large, middle 

 temporal is divided into two portions, the anterior being the smaller. 



Twenty-one dorsal rows of scales ; the outer one but little larger 

 than the 2nd, the former smooth anteriorly, faintly carinated to- 

 wards the tail ; carina; on the remaining rows increasing towards 

 the dorsal line. 



A golden yellow stripe occupies the median row of scales from 

 nape to tip of tail, widening slightly on the edges of the contiguous 

 rows at the anterior end ; a lateral stripe of same color, very indis- 

 tinct anteriorly, where it is mostly confined to the 3rd row, but 

 better defined on the posterior third of the body, where it invades 

 the upper half of the 2nd. Color above the laterals, brownish-olive 

 with two series of alternating dark spots (66 pairs, in this specimen 

 from head to anus), the lower series on the 4th, 5th and 6th rows, 

 the upper on the 7th, 8th and 9th ; below the lateral lines, the 1st 

 and lower half of the 2nd rows (anteriorly, occasionally to the 

 lower half of the 3rd) with the ends of the abdominal scutellse, are 

 lustrous pitch-black. The upper surface of the head in front of the 

 occipitals is greenish-olive ; behind that, to the neck and the sides 



