NO. 2205. CUBAN AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES— STEJNEOER. 



281 



TROPIDOPHIS SEMICINCTUS (Gundlach and Peters). 



Figs. 93 to 97. 



A specimen of this very distinct species (No. 26361 U.S.N.M.) was 

 collected by Mr. J. W. Daniel, jr., at Matanzas, in 1899. It has 25 

 scale rows, 209 ventrals, and 30 caudals. 



This species is very closely allied to if not identical with Bocourt's 

 TropidopMs moreletii} Tlie color pattern is very much alike and 

 the scale formula nearly identical (type of T. moreletii has 25 scale 

 rows, 208 ventrals, and 34 caudals) with that of the above specimen. 

 The special characteristic of T. moreletii is said to be the "tectiform" 

 shape of the scales, but even in this particular our Cuban specimen 



96 97 



Figs. 93-95.— Tropidophis semicinctus. 2J X nat. size. No. 26361, U.S.N.M. Matanzas.— 96-97 



1§ X NAT. SIZE, REPRESENT COLOR PATTERN AND SECTION THROUGH MIDDLE OF BODY OF SAME 

 SPECIMEN. 



matches it, for the scales of the latter show a decided ridge sometimes 

 approaching a faint keel. The t>'pe of T. moreletii is said to have 

 been collected by A. Morelet at Vera Paz, Guatemala, but there is 

 no other record from the mainland that I am aware of. However, 

 some mistake may have crept in, for Morelet, as we know, collected 

 also in Cuba. In part confirmation of my doubt as to the correctness 

 of the locality, I may mention that in A. Dum^ril's Catalogue Metho- 

 dique de la Collection" des Reptiles du Museum d'Historie Naturelle 

 de Paris (1851, p. 216), there is listed a Tropidophis maculatus col- 

 lected by Morelet in Cuba, and I suspect that this may be the same 

 specimen which afterwards served as the type of T. moreletii. 



» BuU. Soc. PhUom. Paris (7), vol. 9, 1885, p. 113; Miss. Sci. Mexlque, Zool., Kept., livr. 11, 1888, pi. 42, 

 figs. 5-5/. 



