1890.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 199 



ON A NEW GENUS OF COLUBRIDJE FROM FLORIDA. 

 BY ARTHUR ERWIN BROWN. 



The snake described below was caj^tured at Lake Kerr, Florida, 

 and Avas lately received at the Zoological Garden from jNIr. N. P. 

 Fry, of that place. As I am unable to refer it to any heretofore 

 described genus of Colnbridce, the genus Stilosoma is established to 

 receive it. 



STILOSOMA genus nov. 



Generic Characters. — Body very slender, cylindrical and rigid ; 

 tail short ; head rounded on frontal outline, not distinct from body. 

 Rosti'al prominent but not recurved ; no prefrontals, anteorbitals 

 or loreal. One nasal. Postfrontals and occipitals in contact with 

 labials. Scales smooth. No scale pits. Anal entire. Teeth smooth. 

 Palatal teeth present. 



S. extenuata, species nov. 



Eye moderately small. One nasal with nostril in the center. 

 Postfrontals large, in contact with the second and third labials and 

 forming, with the latter, the anterior border of the orbit. Vertical 

 hexagonal, the anterior angle obtuse. Superciliaries short and 

 broad. Occipitals large, boundi-ng the postorbitals behind and 

 touching the fifth labial. Two small postorbitals, the lower one 

 resting on a notch between the fourth and fifth labials. Three 

 temporals in a horizontal series ; the first lying between the fifth and 

 sixth labials and ten occipitals. Six superior labials ; third and 

 fourth in orbit ; fifth largest. Five lower labials ; fourth very 

 large. Three pairs of thin shields. Nineteen rows of dorsal scales, 

 lozenge shaped and perfectly smooth. 



Abdominal scutellte 285. Subcaudals small in 44 pairs. 



Ground color silvery-gray, with sixty-one dorsal spots of dark 

 brown with blackish border, from head to anus and eleven on the 

 tail. Anteriorly, the spots are from two to four scales long and 

 from five to seven wide ; posteriorly becoming smaller. The inter- 

 spaces are about equal in length to two spots and have the three 

 median rows of scales mottled with pale red. Under surface of 

 body silvery gray, much blotched with black, which runs up on the 

 three exterior rows of scales, opposite the intervals between the 

 dorsal spots. On the sides, each light scale is finely jjunctuated with 



