824 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



Eostial as iu Ph. hrowni, but apparently thicker and not produced 

 quite so far backward, as its posterior apex only just touches the suture 

 of the prefrontals; under side of free lateral border of rostral very dis- 

 tinctly folded transversely; two prefrontals; frontal hexagonal, longer 

 than broad; parietals as long as frontal and as long as broad; no shield 

 behind parietals; nostril and nasals as in Ph. hrowni; loreal rather 

 large, joining the prefrontal above, and meeting (on the right side) the 

 second supralabial and a rather large subloreal below, which is wedged 

 in between third and fourth supralabials, while on the left the upper 

 portion of second supralabial is cut oflf so as to form a small second 

 subloreal; three preoculars as in Ph. browiii; two suboculars; three 

 postoculars ; two anterior temporals, on right side upper smallest, on 

 left lower smallest ; six supralabials, three posterior largest ; iufralabials 

 and geneials as in Ph. hrowni; scales smooth, slightly decreasing in 

 size toward the middle of the back, in nineteen rows; gastrosteges 

 one hundred and seventy-seven; anal entire; urosteges twentj'^-six 

 pairs. 



Dimensions. — Total length, 350 mm. ; length of tail from anus, 29 mm. ; 

 proportion of tail to total length=l: 12. 



Coloration {in alcohol). — Ground color whitish, with about thirty-two 

 " chocolate brown " blotches on the back from neck to tip of tail ; shape 

 and size more or less irregular, but usually more or less concave iu front 

 and behind, pale in the middle, the brown color being merely sprinkled 

 over the white ground; on the sides a row of smaller brown spots, two 

 or three scales large, in a more or less double series, and, as a rule, alter- 

 nating with the dorsal blotches; on the head a broad line from above 

 each angle of the mouth running upward and forward through the eyes 

 and meeting on the prefrontals; a few irregular spots on posterior por- 

 tion of frontal, on parietals and anterior portion of neck, as well as on 

 some of the supralabials; lower surface unspotted. 



The above description is derived from the typical specimen, which 

 was brought from the northern part of Lower California by INIr. William 

 M. (xabb, and is preserved in the museum of the Academy of J^atural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia. 



Another specimen is in the United States National Museum (Cat. 

 No. 12639), and was collected by Mr. L. Belding at La Paz, near the 

 southern extremity of the peninsula. According to Stejneger this spe- 

 cimen agrees with the type in all essential points. The scutellation is 

 identical with the right side of the type (one subloreal only), except 

 that there are three anterior temporals, lower largest; gastrosteges one 

 hundred and seventy-two; urosteges twenty-seven pairs. 



Dimensions. — Total length, 300 mm.; tail from anus, 28 mm.; propor- 

 tion of tail to total length = 1 : 10.7. 



The coloration is also quite similar, the number of dorsal blotches 

 being twenty-nine. 



