72 SYNOPSES AND DESCRIPTIONS'. 



edged; the dorsal is three and two half scales wide, and is also black-edged. 

 The brown is paler on top of the head, and the ground color is a narrow 

 yellow band to the eye. Lips yellow, like the lower surfaces, unspotted.'' 

 Orizaba, Vera Cruz. 



DlADOPHIS PUNCTATUS, pi. IT, fg. 2. 



Coluber punctatus IAnn$, L766, Syst. Nat., ed. XII, I, :i76. 

 Diadophis punctatus Baird& Girard, 1853, Cat. N. A. Sferp., 112. 



Body slender, subcylindrical, slightly de}iressed; bead distinct from the 

 neck, depressed, crown flat; tail near one fifth of the total, tapering to a 

 point. Crown-shields normal, broad, anterior short. Rostral broad, low, 

 not reaching back on the head. Snout prominent, rounded. Frontal pen- 

 tagonal. Nasal divided, nostril mainly in the anterior portion. Loreal 

 nearly square. Oculars 2—2. Temporals 1 + 1. Labials seven, sixth 

 largest, third and fourth in orbit, or labials eight, seventh larger, fourth 

 and fifth in orbit. Infralabials eight, fifth very large. Posterior sub- 

 mentals half as large as the anterior. Eye moderate, pupil round. 

 Mouth-cleft deep, more than half behind the eye. Scales smooth, in 15 

 rows, dorsal narrow, outer as broad as long. Ventrals 148 — 160. Anal 

 bifid. Subcaudals 36 — 56 pairs. 



Uniform bronzed, ashy or greenish brown above, with a narrow yel- 

 lowish, dark-edged band across the occiput (sometimes obsolete). Hinder 

 edge of the extremities of the ventrals with a black spot, giving the appear- 

 ance of a zigzag line. Belly yellow or orange, purplish or reddish, uni- 

 form or with black spots, irregularly scattered or in a central longitudinal 

 series. Chin yellow to upper margins of the upper labials, which, with 

 that of the rostral, arc black. New England to Mississippi. 



var. aknyi. 



DiADOPms aknyi Kemticott, 1S59, Pr. Ac. N. Sc., Phil., 99. 



Abdomen more spotted with black, ventrals 160. Subcaudals 50 pairs. 

 Kansas. 



var. docilis. 



Baird & Girard, 1853, Cat. N. A. Serp., 114. 



Body above uniform ash-gray; yellowish white beneath, spotted with 

 black. A proportionally broad yellowish white occipital ring, margined 



