APPENDIX B. 151 



" Head subovate, elongated, the snout produced slightly and 

 rounded. The form of the head, as well as the plates that cover it, 

 and the disposition of the eyes and nostrils, appear in the preserved 

 specimen to be precisely similar to those of Coluber constrictor. The 

 body is long and slender, and is covered with large, smooth hex- 

 agonal scales above, and with broad plates below. The tail is long 

 and slender. The whole upper surface of the animal is pale brick- 

 dust color, the abdomen and below brighter red." — Holbr. 



Rocky Mts. 198.80.— 62.— Thos. Say. 



The figure represents the postabdominal scutella as divided. The 

 species perhaps belongs to the genus Mastkopliis, more dorsal rows 

 being represented than probably belong to it. It may prove to be 

 Masticophis flavi(fidaris, B. & G. 



3. Coluber Sayi, Schl. (non Holbr.) — General color reddish orange, 

 with a dorsal series of transverse blotches, forming bands towards the pos- 

 terior region of the body. Flanks mottled or maculated. 



Syn. Coluber Sayi, Schl. Ess. Phys. Serp. Part, descr. 1837, 157. 

 Coluber melanoleiiciis var. Say. — Harl. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. V, 

 1827, 360 ; and Med. & Phys. Res. 1835, 123. 



"This species is beyond all dispute one of the handsomest of the 

 genus (^Coluher), and as well characterized by the shape "of its snout 

 and the plates of its surface as by the beautiful reddish yellow tint 

 predominant over all the regions of the body. The back, however, 

 is of a deeper chestnut-brown, in the midst of which the ground-color 

 appears in the shape of numerous transverse and oval blotches : these 

 two tints constitute towards the posterior region broad and alternat- 

 ing bands, extending to the inferior surface. The anterior region is 

 deeper in color, spotted or maculated with black like the abdomen, 

 or else exhibiting large patches of this same tint. 



" The head is distinct from the neck, and covered with plates, the 

 vertical of which is a spherical triangle almost equilateral ; the oc- 

 cipitals are noticeable for their small size ; the labials are large, and 

 margined with black, but are not to be distinguished from the scales 

 of the body, which are lanceolated, provided with a carina, and dis- 

 posed in 25 rows. 



" There are three postorbital plates and but one anteorbital, pre- 

 ceded by a very small loral. The snout is conical, and terminated 



