1885.J 



385 [Cope. 



•where stated.* I was led to believe this to be the case, on account of the 

 statement of Bocourt in his generic diagnosis that the anal plate is divided ; 

 whereas in his descriptions and figures they are represented as entire. 

 The following is a synopsis of the species of Rhabdosoma found north of 

 Darien. 



I. One pair of geneial plates. 

 i?. zebnnuin Jan. 



II. Two pairs of geneial plates. 

 a. Two postoculars. 



B.'J)icolor Gvini\\.=BhaMosoma hoffmanni Jan. Icouogr. Gen. des Ophi- 

 diens. 

 aa. One postocular. 



^. First pair of inferior labials separated. 



R. rostrale Jan. 



/?;?. First pair of inferior labials in contact. 

 y. Seven superior labials. 

 B. nasaU Cope. 



yy. Six superior labials. 



R. mutiiorques Cope. 



R. guttulatum Cope, sp. nov. 



Head rather short and wide, and slightly distinct from the body. Scales 

 in seventeen entirely smooth rows. Two pairs of geneials, the posterior 

 in contact, and one half as long as the anterior. Superior labials six, the 

 first and second higher than long ; the third and fourth, which bound the 

 eye, longer than high, as is the sixth ; fifth long as high, and in contact 

 with the parietal without intervention of a temporal, as in R. tricolor. Eye 

 not very small ; the superciliary plate several times as large as the postoc- 

 ular. Parietals rather short. Frontal as long as wide, the anterior border 

 gently convex. One temporal between parietal and sixth superior labial. 

 Gastrosteges, 157 ; one anal ; urosteges, 39. Total length, .313 ; to rictus 

 oris, .009; of tail, .051. 



Color above, uniform brown, with a reddish tinge ; below, uniform 

 yellowish. The four lowest rows of scales on each side have a yellow 

 spot at the tip, wliich becomes larger interiorly. On the first row of scales 

 the brown is reduced to a spot at the base of each scale. 



This species is allied to the R. mutitorques, but differs in various minor 

 details. The proportions of the head are more like those of a Ninia. The 

 prefrontals are shorter, and the frontal is longer. The eyes are larger, so 

 that the labials below it are not so high. The superciliary plate is much 

 larger, and the temporal present in R. mutitorques is absent in 3f. guttu. 

 latus. The color is different. There are three specimens of the R. guttu- 

 latus in the collections of the National Museum at Washington, all brought 

 from the State of Vera Cruz by Messrs. Sartorius and Sumichrast. 



• Proceeds. Amer. Philos. Soc, 188.5, p. 178. 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXII. 120. 2W. PRINTED JULY 24, 1885. 



