850 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



they ditfer from tliat species iu coloration in the much greater width of 

 the lateral band and in the dark coloration of the abdomen. Although 

 the scale characters of the C. o. lemniscatns are those of the C. obsoletus 

 ohsoletns, it might be regarded as a distinct species from it were it not 

 for the intermediate characters presented by two other individuals — 

 one from Georgia (Oat. No. 8798, TJ.S.N.M.), and one from Mobile, Ala 

 bama. In these serjients the longitudinal bands are present, but the 

 lateral shows distinct traces of the spots of the ordinary form, which 

 are, indeed, separated from each other at the middle of the length, thus 

 interrupting the band for a short distance. The postocular band is 

 more distinct. Dorsal spots thirty. 



Cat. No. 8798 ; gastrosteges, 227 + 1 ; urosteges, 82 ; scales, 27. 



Both specimens of this subspecies have the parietals truncated 

 behind. 



Coluber obsoletus lemniscatus Cope. 



This form is intermediate between the C. quadrivittat/ns and the C. 

 ohsoletuH. The lateral band is much wider than that of the former spe- 

 cies. A specimen was sent me from Mobile, Alabama, by Dr. Joseph 

 Corson, United States Army, and it is therefore probably iound iu 

 Florida, though it has not yet been actually obtained there. A second 

 specimen is in the U. S. National Museum from Whitfield County, in 

 northern Georgia. Two other specimens — one from Mobile and one from 

 Georgia — show the lateral bands interrupted into spots posteriorly, and 

 hence conne(;t with the C. o. spiloides Dum^ril and Bibron (C. o. confinis 

 Baird and Girard, Cope, formerly). 



COLUBER LiETUS Baird and Girard. 



Coluber laHus CoPE, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XIV, 1892, p. 636.— Boulknger, Cat. 



Snakes Brit. Mus., II, 1894, p. 49, 

 Scotophis la'tus Baird and Girard, Cat. N. Amer. Rept., 1853, p. 77. 



Although known to me from but one specimen, this species must be 

 regarded as distinct, occupying a position between the C. spiloides and 

 the C. emoriji. 



The head is but little distinguished from the body, which is cylindric 

 and not compressed. The muzzle is rather narrow, and the rostral 

 plate is also rather narrow, and the frontal is a little longer than wide. 

 The supraorbitals are abruptly narrowed in front, and the parietals are 

 rather small, although longer than the muzzle from the frontal plate. 

 The loreal is well developed, and the two postoculars are subequal. 

 Temporals 3-4-5, the third row extending from the posterior side of 



