440 PROCEEDINGS OF UXITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Color of bead and upper ])art of body pitcby lustrous black; middle, 

 lower tbird, and tail blackisb brown. Tbis subspecies placed side by 

 side witb 0. getulm boyli presents a very difi'erent fades. Tbe bead 

 and neck resemble 0. boyli in markings and coloration, but tbe appear- 

 ance of tbe body and taU is entirely different from any Nortb American 

 serpents witb wbicli we are familiar. It is boped otber specimens may 

 come to band and establish tbe validity of tbe subspecies. 



Ophibolus getulus multicinctus, siibsp. nov. 



This name is proposed for a subspecies collected by Mr. Gustav 

 Eisen, at Fresno, Cal. 



Description. — Smaller in size tban 0. getidus boyli, to which the 

 coloration gives it a similarity of appearance. Head smaller and more 

 elongated than 0. getidus boyli; neck compressed, scales in twenty- 

 three ro^'s, smooth and lanceolate. Kostral wider than broad, post- 

 frontals very large; two nasals, nostril between; oneloral; auteorbitals 

 one; pnstorbitals two; vertical elongated without angles on sides, re- 

 sembling an inverted cone; occipitals longer than broad, having each 

 a small scale at the angular basal end. Upper labials 7, lower labials 

 9. Eye above uot<ih between third and fourth upper labials Post- 

 abdominal scutella entire, caudal all divided. There are 49 black bands 

 from occipitals to end of tail, the 42d opposite the anus. 



General color of body dirty white, tbe borders of the sides being 

 brown. Upper part of bead as far posteriorly as last third of occip- 

 itals, pitchy black. Behind tbis commences a white band extend- 

 ing and expanding on each side of tbe head, taking in the last two 

 upper labials, passing completely around. Posterior to this are a black 

 band six scales wide, and a reddish-brown band 4 scales wide. From 

 the head, posteriorly, the black bauds increase in width, being 5i scales 

 "wide on the middle of the body; tbe white bands are here narrower 

 embracing 3 scales only. In many of the black bauds there is a ten- 

 dency at the bases to split np into reddish-white blotches, and one 

 or two of them notably near the head are almost entirely divided by 

 the running upwards of the blotches. 



The National Museum has been very fortunate lately in receiving sev- 

 eral collections containing a number of species which have long been 



