726 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



LICHANURA ORCUTTI Stejneger. 



Liohanura orctitti Stejneger, Pioc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XII, 1889, p. 96, fig. 1 ; 1891, 

 p. 513.— Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1892, p. 592. 



Dr. Stejneger thus describes this species, which is the form most dis- 

 tinct from the L. trivirgata: 



Scales in thirty-three to thirty-five rows; eye encircled by nine or ten scales; 

 loreals four; labials thirteen to fifteen; gastrosteges, two hundred and thirty-two; 

 anal entire ; urosteges forty-five, entire. 



Rostral plate very prominent, recurved, pentagonal, its nasal border twice as long 

 as its labial; eye surrounded by a ring of scales of nearly equal size, ten on the right 

 side, but only nine on the left ; between the posterior nasal and the middle preocular 

 two large loreal scales, and under the posterior one, wedged in between it, the 

 middle and lower prefrontals, and fourth, fifth, and sixth supralabials, a somewhat 

 smaller subloreal; over the posterior loreal a superloreal of medium size; nasal 

 divided, the anterior i^late meeting the one of the other side; back of these a pair 

 of rather large anterior prefrontals followed by four smaller posterior jirefrontals, or 

 what corresponds to these plates where a frontal exists, the outer ones being larger 

 thau those in the middle; posterior to these the head is covered with numerous 

 rather irregular scales; supralabials thirteen, the first four highest; infralabials 

 fifteen, gradually diminishing in height from the pair joining the triangular men- 

 tal; mental fissure separating four pairs of scales; scales of body smooth, in thirty- 

 thr<>e to thirty-five longitudinal rows, the inferior on each side slightly larger than 

 the Ti'st; gastrosteges narrow, two hundred and thirty-two; anal small, entire; 

 tail short, blunt; urosteges forty-five, entire. 



Fig. 147. 



LiCHANDRA OEC0TTI STEJNEGER. 

 = 1. 



Dimensions. — Total length, 870 mm. ; length of tail from anus, 110 mm. ; diameter 

 of eye, 3 mm. ; from tip of muzzle to anterior border of eye, 11 mm. ; proportion of 

 last two measurements = 1 : 3.7. 



Coloration. — Ground color light bluish gray, with a light brownish wash on the 

 upper surface; three longitudinal ill-defined, zigzag bands of a pale raw umber 

 brown running the whole length of the body, the middle one starting between the 

 eyes running to the end of the tail, the lateral ones starting on the temporal region 

 becoming obscure on the tail; top of muzzle and occasional blotches between the 

 bands ol' the same color ; whole underside, except the gulars, mottled irregularly with 

 blotches of a dark neutral tint. 



Of the forms which compose this genus the present species appears to be the most 

 highly differentiated, the most distinctive feature being the elongation of the snout 

 and the prominence and shape of the rostral. From the L. trivirf/aia, myrioJepia, and 

 simplex group, it differs more particularly by the low number of scale rows and 

 loreals. 



Lichanura orcutli Stejneyer. 



