BRANSON : SNAKES OP KANSAS. 403 



and sixth largest. Nine lower labials, fifth largest. Pregenials 

 slightly longer than postgenials. Anal entire. Gastrosteges 

 202. Urosteges 45, in two series. 



Ground color above scarlet, encircled by twenty to thirty 

 pairs of black rings. Each pair of black rings encloses a yel- 

 low ring. The black rings are broader above. The contiguous 

 rings of the adjacent black rings become confluent on the back. 

 Often the color between the rings is homogenous. Larger 

 specimens are usually darker than smaller ones. This fusing 

 of rings of adjacent pairs does not always occur. On the same 

 snake there are frequently rings that show no indications of 

 fusing and others that become almost completely fused. The 

 scales in the yellow rings are frequently marked with black. 

 The black rings usually extend around the body. The spaces 

 on the belly between the adjacent pairs of rings are blackish. 

 Top of head black to muzzle. Muzzle bright red. Each of the 

 red plates has a black spot. The posterior parts of the oc- 

 cipitals are usually yellow. Postorbitals black. Labials 

 yellowish, sometimes two or three bordered with black. Tem- 

 porals margined with brown or black. 



Only one specimen is known from Kansas and it is in Kan- 

 sas University museum. It was collected by Professor Snow 

 in Wallace county. Its dimensions and scutellation are as fol- 

 lows : Length 25^^^, inches, tail 3i inches ; gastrosteges 202 ; 

 urosteges 45 ; scales in twenty-one rows. 



RHINOCHILUS Baird and Girard. 



Rhinochilus Baird and Girard, Cat. N. Amer. Rept., Pt. I, Serp., 1853, p. 

 120; Cope, Check-list N. Amer. Batr. Rept., 1875, p. 36. 



Head subelliptical, pointed at the snout, and separated from 

 the body by a slightly contracted neck. Rostral plate large, 

 overhanging, but not recurved above. Two pairs of frontal 

 plates. Two nasals ; nostrils intermediate. One loreal. One 

 anterior orbital. Superciliaries large. Scales smooth. Post- 

 abdominal scutellum entire. Subcaudal scutella usually all 

 undivided. 



Only one species of this genus occurs in Kansas, and only 

 three specimens of that species have been reported. 



