416 BULLETIN 58, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



of a rich dark chestnut with narrow, bright ochraceous yellow cross- 

 bands round the entire body, one to two scales wide on the back and 

 two to tliree scales on the sides, and about four scales distant; a 

 similar yellow band from angle of mouth tlirough anterior temporals, 

 upper postocular, outer half of supraocular to median prefrontals; 

 a few hregular yellowish marks on second supralabial and on tlu'oat. 



Dimensions. 



mm. 



Total length. 890 



Snout to vent -. 778 



Vent to tip of tail 112 



Variation. — A young specimen (U.S.N.M. No. 36517), ready to be 

 born and taken from the abdomen of the above described specimen, 

 is a perfect counterfeit of the old snake differing only in the following 

 particulars: (1) It has 17 scale rows around the neck as well as around 

 the middle of the body; (2) the mental is large, nearly heart-shaped, 

 with a deep median groove, and the pau of narrow shields between 

 the mental and the first pah of chin-shields is wanting. In other 

 respects, notably the size and shape of the head-shields, the remark- 

 able consolidation of the labials in both jaws, in the great width of 

 the median dorsal scale row as well as in color, the two specimens 

 agree completely. Enough of another young, still attached to the 

 mother was freed from the egg membranes to ascertain that these 

 points are equally developed in this specimen. 



A fourth specimen is the male from Botel Tobago, mentioned by 

 me when fh"st describing the species. Although about a third smaller 

 than the mature female described above, it appears to be adult, and 

 agrees in almost every particular with that specimen. The only 

 point of difference is that the rostral has a slightly elevated point, 

 somewhat indicative of the spine in E. chelonicephalus. This charac- 

 ter seems to be confined to the male sex. The specimen in question 

 has 17 scale rows; 142 ventrals; a double anal; and 28 undivided 

 subcaudals. Total length 613 inm.; tail, 93 mm. The fact that this 

 specimen, as well as the three others in the National Museum, agrees 

 with the adult. female in having a pair of narrow shields immediately 

 behind the small grooved mental and before the first pair of regular 

 chin-sliields, proves that the condition in the young specimens in which 

 these pseudo-chin-shields are fused with the mental is an individual 

 aberration only. 



These "postmentals" or "pseudo-chin-shields," however, seem to 

 be the first pair of sublabials which have been crowded away from the 

 lip. The posterior lower projection of the rostral fits snugly into 

 the anterior notch and groove of the mental and closes the mouth 

 effectively. 



