synopses amt descriptions. 23 



Tropidonotus rufipunctatus. 



Chjlopoma kufipunctatum Yarrow {Cope MS.;, 1875, Zool. Wheeler's Sum)/, p. 544, pi XX,fig. I. 



Moderately slender, tapering to head and tail; head distinct, elongate, 

 narrowed anteriorly; tail about one fourth of total. Eye moderate, pupil 

 round. Crown-shields regular. Rostral turned over the superior face 

 of the muzzle, posterior border truncate. Internasals longer than wide. 

 Prefrontals decurved laterally. Nasal long, narrow. Preocular higher 

 than wide, in contact with the frontal. Two preoculars on one side. 

 Frontal elongate, obtuse behind. Parietals elongate, bounding the upper 

 postocular behind. Postoculars three. Temporals 1+3. Labials eight, 

 last very small, fourth and fifth bounding the orbit below. Infralabials 

 nine. Submentals two pairs. Scales keeled, in 21 rows, first and second 

 smooth, poreless. Ventrals 177. Subcaudals 4+83 pairs. 



Light brown above, olive shaded on the head. Anterior half of body 

 marked with six rows of small alternating bright rufous or orange spots, 

 each of which occupies one and sometimes an adjoining scale. They stand 

 on the first and second, the fifth, and on the eighth rows respectively. On 

 the posterior third of the length they are wanting, and are indistinct poste- 

 rior to the middle. Lower surfaces pale brownish-grey; the base of each 

 ventral with blackish markings. Labials light; head without spots. The 

 figure does not agree with the description. Southern Arizona, (From 

 descr.) 



Tropidonotus saurita, pi- HI, fi ( J- 2. 



Coluber saurita IAnni, 1766, Syst. Nat., ed. XII. 385. 

 Tropidonotus saurita Schlegel, 1837, Ess. Pkys. Serp. II, 321. 



Body slender; head distinct, crown flat; tail long, near a third of the 

 total length, slender. Eye large, over the fourth and fifth labials. Nino 

 head-shields. Frontal hexagonal. Rostral broader than high. Nasal in 

 two parts, nostril between, near the upper edge. A loreal. Oculars 1 — 3. 

 Temporals 1+2. Mouth-cleft deep, curved. Labials 8 (7 — 8), third and 

 fourth in orbit when there are but seven. Infralabials 10 (9 — 11), fifth 

 and sixth large. Submentals two pairs, elongate, narrow, hinder larger. 

 Scales keeled, in 19 rows, outer broader. Ventrals broad, 150 — 160 (with 

 var. proximus 150—180). Anal entire. Subcaudals 110—120 (100—120). 



Brown to black, olivaceous beneath. With a dorsal and two lateral 

 narrow lines of yellow. Lateral lines upon the third and fourth rows of 

 scales; below them on the miter rows the color is brown, sometimes very 



