110 CONTIA. 



Genus C0]¥TIA, Baird & Girard. 



Gen. Char. Head ovoidal, and with the body much depressed, 

 rather short, with the snout truncated. Cephalic plates normal. 

 One nasal. Nostril in its middle. One loral. One anterior and 

 one postorbital. Eye small. Mouth moderately cleft. Scales smooth. 

 Postabdominal scutella bifid. Subcaudal all divided. 



Contia, mitis, B. & G. — Deep chestnut-brown above, with two longi- 

 tudinal light bands, one on each side of the back, below which is a series of 

 black dots. Scales minutely dotted with black. Anterior half of the scu- 

 tellse black ; posterior half light yellow. Dorsal scales in 15 rows. 



Head almost as deep as the body, snout protruding over the lower 

 jaw, and obliquely truncated. Vertical plate hexagonal, sides 

 nearly parallel, posteriorly very acute. Occipitals elongated, trun- 

 cated posteriorly, slightly convex exteriorly. Postfrontals large 

 and angular. Prefrontals subangular, much smaller. Rostral well 

 developed, broad, but slightly produced between the prefrontals. 

 Nasal quadrangular, longer than high, with nostril in the middle, a 

 little nearer the anterior than posterior edge of the plate. Loral 

 elongated and quadrangular, situated above the 2d labial. Ante- 

 orbital angular and elevated, situated above the 3d labial. Post- 

 orbital angular, larger than the anteorbital, situated above the 

 commissure between the 4th and 5th labials. Superciliaries propor- 

 tionally small and oblong. A large and angular elongated temporal 

 shield. Upper labials 7; anterior and posterior ones smaller; 3d 

 and 4th beneath the eye; lower labials 7, 4th largest. Posterior 

 pair of mental scutellas very small. Two scutellae on each side, 

 along the 5th, 6th, and 7th infralabials. 



Body slender, subcylindrical, broader than deep. Scales propor- 

 tionally large, subelliptical, posteriorly rounded or subtruncated. 

 Those of the exterior row conspicuously broader. Tail short, coni- 

 cal, and tapering. 



