CROCODILIANS, LIZARDS, AND SNAKES. 



813 



ZAMENIS ORNATUS Baird and Girard. 



Masticophis ornaiits Baird and Girard, Cat. N. Amer. Kept., Pt. 1, Serp., 1853, 



pp. 102, 159. 

 Baseanium Iwniaium ornatum Baird aud Girard, Copk, Check-list N. Amer. Batr. 



Kept., 1875, p. 40. 



Excessively elongated. Above very deep maroon, brighter on the 

 sides, beneath mottled; a yellow stripe on each side of the abdomen, 

 and two pairs of short yellow stripes, one behind the other, on the 

 anterior i)art of the body, and' in the fourth dorsal rows. Tail about 

 one-third the total length. 



The head is narrow, much elongated, and rather depressed, being 

 considerably less arched than in Z. flagellum. The vertical is very 

 much elongated, a little shorter than the occipital. The muzzle is 

 rather broad anteriorly, owing to the greater than usual development 



Fig. 181. 



Zamenis ORNATUS Baird and Gibard. 



= 1. 



Howard Springs, Texas. 



Cat. No. l:i70, U.S.N. M. 



of the anterior frontals. The center of the eye is considerably in 

 advance of the commissural line, aud behind the junction of the fourth 

 and fifth labial. The upper anteorbital is very large, the lower still 

 smaller than in the other species; in one specimen it is wanting. The 

 sixth labial scarcely touches the postorbital, in one specimen being 

 separated by a small plate. The loreal is elongated, lower than in Z. 

 flagelbon. Labials, eight above, penultimate largest; nine or ten below, 

 the fifth largest. Eostral broader than high, the reverse being the 

 case in Z. flagellum. Dorsal rows of scales, fifteen. The scales are 

 broad, very large, thin, and perfectly smooth. The edges are nearly 

 straight, tip truncated aud rounded off. They are decidedly broader 

 than in Z. flagellum. 



General color above dark purple, becoming almost black toward the 

 back, brighter on the sides; the colors are deeper toward the head; 



