BRA.NSON : SNAKES OP KANSAS. 415 



from above. Seven superior labials, seventh largest. Six in- 

 ferior labials, fourth largest. Scales broad and short. Gastro- 

 steges 130-165. Urosteges 46-66, in two series. Anal plate 

 divided. 



Fig. 33. 

 Tantilla nigriceps Kennicott. 



Color gray to drab above, reddish beneath. Top of head 

 black, the same color extending to the third scale behind the 

 occipitals. Superior labials white below, bordered with black 

 above. Inferior labials and under part of head white. 



A small snake, seldom reaching a length more than twenty 

 inches. Head not distinct from body, flat and sloping forward 

 above. Body slender. Eye small, above third and fourth la- 

 bials. 



I have examined specimens from Barber, Riley, Clark, Gove 

 and Hamilton counties. One specimen from Geary county is in 

 the National Museum. This snake is rare in Kansas. Cope and 

 Brown give northern Texas as the northern limit of its range. 



It feeds on insects. Its favorite abode is under heaps of cattle 

 dung. It lives in semiarid regions, but after a rain or heavy 

 dew covers itself with slime, as though enjoying moisture to a 

 certain degree. 



CHIONACTIS Cope. 



ChionactiH Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1861, p. 303. 



Posterior maxillary tooth not enlarged, with a shallow exter- 

 nal sulcus. Nasal plate single, pierced by the nostril, distinct 

 from the labials. Internasals and preocular present Anal and 

 subcaudal plates double. Loreal usually present. 



Only one specimen of this genus has ever been reported from 

 Kansas. It belongs to the species episcopus, and was collected 

 by Professor Cragin. 



5-Bull., No. 13. 



