78 SYNOPSES AND DESCRIPTIONS. 



Cemopiiora COCCIXEA, pi. VI, fi<J. 1. 

 Coluber coccineus Blum., 1788, Lkhi. & Voigt., Mag., V. 



Rather small. Long, slender, subcylindrieal ; head little larger than the 

 neck, subconical, snout turned upward, with prominent rostral, but not 

 compressed into a sharp edge as in Heterodon, Tail short, near one sev- 

 enth of the total, tapering to a point. Eyes small, pupil round. Mouth- 

 cleft not very dee]), somewhat curved. Posterior maxillary teeth larger. 

 Crown-shields normal. Frontal broad, hexagonal. Supraciliaries very 

 small. Prefrontals broader than long. Rostral swollen, extending back 

 between the internasals. Nasal entire, sometimes grooved or half divided, 

 occasionally divided. A small loreal. Oculars 1 — 2, lower smaller. Tem- 

 porals 1 + 2. Labials six, second commonly entering the orbit, third be- 

 neath the eye and postorbitals. (A specimen shows fusion of the second 

 and third on one side, and the second, third, and fourth on the other.) 

 Infralabials eight, fourth largest. Submentals one pair. Scales smooth, 

 in 19 rows; dorsal lozenge-shaped, pointed, outer little broader. Ventrals 

 broad, 157 — 174. Anal entire. Subcaudals 34 — 45 pairs. 



Crimson in life, yellowish in alcohol; white below. Crossed by pairs of 

 transverse bands of dark brown or black, each pair inclosing a narrow 

 band of yellow. Sixteen to nineteen yellow bands on the body, four to 

 five on the tail; they are limited on the outer rows by a series of spots of 

 dark, which alternate with the dark bands. Black rings about equal to 

 yellow, two or three scales. The red space between the black rings has a 

 width about equal to that occupied by the pair and the included yellow. 

 The red spaces are more or less completely inclosed by the union of the 

 black bands beneath them into a ring. The first black band crosses the 

 head, behind the eye, to the angle of the mouth; in front of this the head 

 is red, yellowish on the snout, behind it on the occiput the first yellow 

 band is followed by the second black. Southern States east of the Missis- 

 sippi. 



var. copei. 

 The specimen described and figured by Prof. Jan under this name has 

 the red blotches on the back much shorter and more numerous than is 

 usual in the species. It had thirty-two black rings on body and tail. 

 The loreal enters the orbit below the anteorbital. Tennessee. 



