CROCODILIANS, LIZARDS, AND SNAKES. 



747 



The J), a. pulchellus and D. a. amabilis are Californiau ; the D. a. 

 (locilis is known from Texas and Sonora; while the D. a. .stictogenys 

 ranges from Texas to Louisiana and Georgia. 



DIADOPHIS AMABILIS PULCHELLUS Baird and Girard. 



IHadophis pulcheUus Baird and Girard, Cat. N. Anier. Rept., Pt. 1, Serp. 1853, 



- p. 115. 

 rJiadophis imnctatus pulchellua Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila,, 1883, p. 27. 



Body above greenish brown, the scales minutely dotted with black. 

 Beneath deep orauge-red, with small black spots irregularly scattered 

 all over, from head to near the end of tail. Occipital ring margined 

 anteriorly and posteriorly with a narrow black line. 



Head small, body proportionally long and subcylindrical; tail conical, 

 and very much tapering. The frontal plate is subpentagonal, and still 

 less tapering, and less acute 



than in the preceding spe irT\ jf^i<. i 



cies. Superciliaries as in I>. 

 a. amabilis. Scales subellipti 

 cal, elongated. Outer rows 

 larger than the rest, which 

 diminish toward the dorsal 

 line. The bright color of the 

 abdomen extends to the two 

 external rows of scales, which 

 are unicolor, the spots of the 

 abdomen scarcely passing be- 

 yond the scutelhe, although 

 a series of very small spots 

 may be followed along the up- 

 per edge of the second dorsal rows of scales close to the color of the 

 back. The upper labials and lower jaw are yellowish white. 



I obtained a specimen of this very pretty form in Shasta County, 

 California, in which the inferior sunfaces are without spots, and a second 

 from the same locality is in the U. S. National Museum, in which the 

 spots are very few. The B. a. intlchellus passes into the D. a. amahiUs, 

 since, in Cat. No. 11786, but one row of scales is colored like the 

 abdomen. 



Eldorado County, California; gastrosteges, 203 -f-1; urosteges, 60; total length, 14f 

 inches ; tail, 2% inches. 



Diadophia amahiUs pulcheUus Baird and Girard. 



I'ig. 157. 



DiADOPHlS AMABILIS PDLCHKLLUS BaIKI) AND GlKAUD. 

 X 1.5. 



Baird, Shasta County, California. 



Cat. No. 11804, L'.S.X.M. 



