PITUOPHIS. 65 



1. PituopIliS lsielailoleMCHS,HoLBR.— Head ovoi^, broad behind. 

 Aiiteorbital 1 ; postorbitals 3. Dorsal rows of scales 29, the four outer rows 

 smooth, 5th, 6th, and 7th with an obsolete keel. Tail about i of total 

 length. Head maculated with black ; an oblique vitta from the orbit to the 

 7th labial. Color of the body whitish, with a dorsal series of very large 

 blotches, the 24th opposite the anus ; anteriorly and posteriorly emarginated 

 on the anterior third of the body, oblong posteriorly. Elongated smaller 

 blotches on the flanks, forming three indistinct series, often confluent. Ab- 

 domen unicolor. A series of 20-29 distinct blotches along the extremities 

 of the scutellis. 



Syn. Coluber melanohiicus, Daud. Hist. Nat. Rept. VI, 1799, 409. — 

 Harl. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. V, 1827, 359; and Med. & Phys. Res. 

 1835, 122. 



PituopMs melanoleucus, Holbr. N. Amer. Herp. IV, 1842, 7. PI. i. 



Pine Snake, or Bull Snake, Bartram, Trav. in Carol., Geo., and Florida, 

 1791, 276. 



Head robust, conical. Vertical plate subpentagonal, broad an- 

 teriorly. Occipitals a little larger than the vertical, and as broad 

 anteriorly as long. Internal postfrontals elongated and subtriangu- 

 lar; external postfrontals polygonal. Prefrontals quadrilateral, se- 

 parated by the rostral. Eostral narrow, very convex, raised above 

 the surface of the snout, and reaching the internal postfrontals. 

 Nasals very large, anterior one the larger. Nostrils vertically ob- 

 long, situated in the middle and between both plates. Loral ovoid, 

 small, horizontal. One large anteorbital, with its anterior margin 

 convex, of the same width above as below. Three postorbitals, 

 proportionally large. Temporal shields small, six or nine, or more. 

 Upper labials 8, 7th largest, 4th coming into the orbit. Lower 

 labials 14, 5th and 6th largest, the five posterior ones quite small. 

 Posterior pair of mental shields one-third of the size of the anterior 

 pair, and reaching backwards to opposite the middle of the lower 6th 

 labial. Tail conical and tapering, forming about the seventh of the 

 total length. 



The ground-color, when living, is said to be white ; as preserved ia 

 alcohol it is yellowish brown. The head is maculated with small 

 black spots; frontal bar rather wide; postocular vitta broad. A dor- 

 are in P. melanoleucus, we deem it expedient to place Chnrchillia hellona in the 

 genus PituopJiis. One might well have been familiar with the reptiles of North 

 America described before 1851, and not be prepared to identify species presenting 

 the characters just alluded to. 



