358 BULLETIN 17 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



dark plumbeous hue obscures its limits entirely, so that the ventral 

 coloration seems to merge gradually with the uniform black of the 

 dorsal tone; the anal plates and some of the preanal gastrosteges are 

 largely vinaceous-buff, and the subcaudals show more of this color 

 towards the tip, as the plumbeous clouding ceases. 



"Dimensions. — Head and body, 507 mm.; tail (defective), 350 mm. 



"This subspecies is recognizable at a glance, for it is the only one 

 that shows any indication of spots taking the place of stripes. Its 

 snout is relatively longer than in any other subspecies of Leimadophis 

 parvifrons as evidenced by the nearly equal internasal and prefrontal 

 lengths and the very narrow frontal. In the narrowness of the black 

 dorsal stripe the new subspecies is closest to tortuganus from Tortuga 

 Island, which has a width of four scales on the neck widening to five 

 further back. The new subspecies is one in which differentiation has 

 proceeded furthest from the original stock exemplified by Leima- 

 dophis parvifrons parvifrons from western Haiti." 



Variations. — Since the above description was published, a second 

 specimen (a young male, M. C. Z. No. 29054) has been brought to 

 my attention by Dr. Thomas Barbour, who collected it on Beata 

 Island on February 15-16, 1929. It has 19 scale rows, 165 ventrals, 

 a divided anal, 140 caudals, 8 upper labials, oculars 1+2 and temporals 

 1+2. This snake is considerably younger, the head and body meas- 

 uring 283 mm. and the tail 200 mm. ; the snout therefore is somewhat 

 shorter in relation to the eye, as is the case in most immature snakes 

 when contrasted with adults, and the frontal plate does not yet 

 display the narrowed proportions so obvious in the fully adult type 

 specimen. 



The two snakes are almost identical in pattern, except that in the 

 younger the tones are much more definite. From the neck to three or 

 four head lengths behind the head a lateral series of black, confluent, 

 diamond-shaped spots are apparent, giving to the narrow light line 

 directly above a very zigzag appearance. In both snakes small 

 scattered black dots occur on the anterior part of the belly, although 

 posteriorly the young snake is not suffused with dark, which is again 

 a juvenile characteristic. 



LEIMADOPHIS PARVIFRONS NIGER Dunn 



Figures 107, 110, 115e 



1920. Leimadophis parvifrons niger Dunn, Proc. New England Zool. Club., vol. 7, 

 p. 39.— Schmidt, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 44, art. 2, p. 20, 1921. — 

 Cochran, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 66, art. 6, p. 14, 1924. — Barbour and 

 Loveridge, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 69, No. 10, p. 288, 1929. 



1894. Liophis parvifrons Boulenger, Catalogue of the snakes in the British 

 Museum, vol. 2, p. 141 (specimen h) (part). 



1930. Dromicus parvifrons niger Barbour, Zoologica, vol. 11, No. 4, p. 114; 

 vol. 19, No. 3, p. 139, 1935; Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 82, No. 2, p. 161, 

 1937. 



