THE HERPETOLOGY OF HISPANIOLA 



359 



Description of a parahjpe. — Adult male; U.S.N. M. No. 55031; 

 Samand Peninsula, Dominican Republic; 1916; W. L. Abbott, collec- 

 tor. Rostral broader than deep ; internasal suture not quite so long as 

 prefrontal suture; frontal longer than its distance from end of snout, 

 shorter than the parietals, not in contact with the preocular; supraocu- 

 lar narrower than frontal; nasal divided, longer than its distance from 

 eye; loreal small, 4-sided, slightly longer than deep; one preocular; 

 two postoculars nearly equal in size on the left side, the lower postocular 

 divided horizontally on right ; one large anterior temporal followed by 

 two smaller ones; eight upper labials, the second in contact with 

 posterior nasal and loreal but rather widely separated from the 

 preocular; fourth and fifth supralabials broadly and third narrowly 

 in contact with eye; ten lower labials, five in contact with anterior 

 chin shields and two with the posterior ones ; the anterior and posterior 



Figure 1 10. — Leiviadophis parvifrons niger: a, Top of head; b, side of head; c, chin. U.S.N.M. 

 No. 55031, paratype, from Samana Peninsula, Dominican Republic. One and one-half 

 times natural size. 



chin shields equal in length; scales in 19 rows, without pores; ventrals 

 151; anal divided; caudals 132. Head and body, 369 mm.; tail, 273 

 mm. 



Color (in alcohol): Body black above and below; head black above, 

 the lower border of rostral and labials white; throat white, spotted 

 with black; the first few ventral plates white in the center; a few white 

 scales just behind the corner of the mouth, indistinctly continued as 

 light-edged scales occasionally found on the first three scale rows; 

 the anal plates and a few ventrals preceding it marked with white; 

 under side of tail posteriorly white. 



Variations. — While all the adult specimens in the National Museum 

 show a uniformly black dorsal surface, the variation in color on the 

 ventral surface is noticeable. In some specimens the white spots on 

 the scales of the anal region are entirely absent and only the extreme 

 tip of the tail is white; in quite a number these spots are as in the 

 described specimen, while on a few snakes (one of which is No. 55026, 

 also a paratype) the light color is found on nearly every ventral scale 

 from midbody to tail tip. 



