498 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



cies, giving as a further definition that the ear opening is not larger 

 than the nostril, while in the 0. ventralis it is muoh larger. 



An examination of the localities from which the color varieties above 

 mentioned were derived shows that no well-defined specimens of the 

 checkered variety have been sent from west of the Mississippi River, 

 and that all from that region are striped. It shows, also, that the 

 striped coloration occurs also east of the Mississippi in Illinois, North 

 Carolina, South Carolina, and that it is abundant in Florida. It also 

 shows that the striped form is not characterized by a smaller number of 

 scales than the checkered form, nor do the trans-Mississippians have 

 even generally 14 rows of scales. Thus, I find in Cat. No. 93G0, from 

 Kansas, IG rows; Cat. No. 4985, Arkansas, 16 rows; Cat. No. 3201, south- 

 western Texas, 16 rows; Wichita, Texas, E. D. Cope, 14 rows; Dallas, 

 Texas, E. D. Cope, 16 rows. The size of the auricular meatus is very 

 variable. I have seen it as small as the nostril in only one specimen, 

 and that is Cat. No. 10584, from Clearwater, Florida, of the striped 



Fig. 89. 

 Ophisaurus ventralis Linnjeus, young, type of O. v. sulcatus Cope. 



X 2. 

 Dallas, Texas, 



Collection of E. D. Ca\^^. 



variety, and with 16 rows of scales. In some specimens it is nearly as 

 long as the eye slit; in many others it is only half as long, etc. 



I do not find the subspecies attenuatns Baird, or species, according 

 to Boulenger, to be well founded. The subspecies sulcatus Cope, from 

 Dallas, Texas, stands on no better foundation. The interfrontonasal 

 is broadly in contact with the frontal, but this character occurs in a 

 good many others, both checkered and striped, and is variable in speci- 

 mens from the same locality (Cat. No. 15537). The second row of super- 

 ciliary scales is represented by a half row in many specimens, and the 

 one labial plate in the orbit is matched by Cat. No. 10584 from Clear- 

 water, Florida. The carination of the scales is greater than usual, but 

 the specimen is young and would have become, with age, as smooth as 

 some of those before me. 



The only specimen which diverges widely enough from the type to 

 require mention is Cat. No. 21359, which is, however, approached by 

 Cat. No. 14724. 



I give a more detailed description of an individual of the striped type. 



