192 THE HERPETOLOGY OF CUBA. 



Description: — Adult M. C. Z. 10,822. Cuba: Cienfuegos, Soledad, 1915. 

 R. M. Grey. 



Head rather distinct from neck; rostral a little broader than deep; just 

 visible from above; frontal a little longer than broad, as long as its distance 

 from the rostral; parietals rather small; one pre- and three postoculars; nine 

 upper labials, foiu"th, and fifth entering the eye; scales smooth, in twenty-five 

 rows; ventrals 205; anal entire; subcaudals forty-six. 



Colour (in fresh specimen) : — Creamish yellow, a double series of large 

 black spots, one on each side. The spots sometimes confluent. Throat and 

 upper labials yellowish, remainder of head chestnut-brown. 



This very distinct and pecuUar snake is excessively rare, one of the rarest 

 in Cuba. The only specimen in the M. C. Z. is the one described. It has 

 been taken at Borrero on the Guantanamo River by the junior author who 

 has specimens from Manzanillo and Cuabitas near Santiago; there are also 

 two specimens in the U. S. N. M. We know really nothing of its habits, 

 beyond the fact that it is perfectly inoffensive, simply rolling up into a ball 

 with its head tucked away inside and remaining motionless until disturbed. 

 It is Hke its close relatives, noctm'nal. 



Still more recently Mr. W. S. Brooks has found it in the Island of Pines 

 where it was previously unknown, and the M. C. Z. has also received a 

 specimen from Cardenas. 



Natricidae. 



60. Tretanorhinus variabilis Diuneril & Bibron. 



Plate 15, fig. 9. 



Catibo (Western and Central Cuba); Memiso or Quimbolo (Eastern Cuba). 



Diagnosis: — A wholly aquatic snake, grayish olive in colour with many 

 much darker cross-bands. The head depressed and the eyes and nostrils point- 

 ing upward as an adaptation to the aquatic habitat. 



Description: — Adult M. C. Z. 10,820. Cuba: Pinar del Rio; Guane, 

 Rio Cuyaguateje, Spring of 1915. Thomas Barbour and W. S. Brooks. 



Rostral much broader than high, scarcely visible from above; nasals in 

 contact behind the rostral; internasals much longer than broad, the internasal 

 sutiu-e but slightly if any longer than the prefrontal suture; frontal very much 

 longer than broad, about as long as prefrontal and internasal sutm-es together, 



