g58 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



COMPSOSOMA CORAIS Boie. 



Coluber corais Boie, Isis von Oken, 1827, p. 537.— Schlkgel, Ess. Phys. Ser- 

 pens, I, 1842, p. 145; II, p. 139, pi. v, figs. 9, 10. 



Phrynonax corain BouLENGER, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., II, 1894, p. 31. 



Spiloies corais Dum^:ril and Bibron, Erp. G^n., VII, 1854, p. 223. — Gunther, Cat. 

 Brit. Mus., 1858, p. 98.— Cope, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 32, 1887, p. 72. 



Head moderately distinct, oval. Body elongate, subcylindric ; tail 

 one-sixth to nearly one-eigbtli the total length. Rostral plate moder- 

 ately prominent, broader than high, visible from above, but not dividing 

 the iuternasals. Interuasals much smaller than prefrontals. Frontal 

 as broad as long; superciliaries posteriorly wider than frontal. Parie- 

 tals large, longer than wide. Postnasal higher than prenasal; loreal 

 rather small, longer than high. Oculars 1-2, the anterior widely sep- 

 arated above from frontal. Temporals 2-2, all long and narrow, those 

 of the second row coinciding in anteroposterior extent with the last 

 superior labial. Superior labials eight, the fourth and fifth bounding 

 the orbit; the sixth triangular, the apex not reaching the postocular. 

 Seventh higher but not longer than the eighth. Inferior labials eight, 

 fifth largest. Geneials short, anterior pair the longer. 



Scales smooth, rather wide, in seventeen rows. 



Color varying from light brown to black, the tints when not uniform 

 covering large parts of the body. 



Size large, reaching a length of 8 feet, with robust proportions. 



There are three color varieties of this species which pass into each 

 other, but which have especial geographic ranges. They are as follows : 

 Color light brown, with a black oblique stripe on each side of the neck..C c. corais. 

 Color like C. c. corais anteriorly, but more or less of the posterior part of the body 



with tail, black C. c. melanurus. 



Color black, the anterior gastrostoges with dark red bases, and the superior labials 



generally with davk red borders C. c. cotiperii. 



TheC. c. corais inhabits South America; the C. e. melanurus Central 

 America and Mexico, and the C. c. couperii the Gulf States of North 

 America 



COMPSOSOMA CORAIS COUPERII Holbrook. 



Spilotes corais couperii Cope, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XIV, 1892, p. 637. 

 Coluber couperii Holhrook, N. Amer. Herpt., Ill, 1842, p. 75, pi. xvi. 

 Georgia couperii Baird and Girard, Cat. N. Amer. Rept., 1853, p. 92. 

 Spilotes couperii Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1860, p. 564; Check-list N. 



Amer. Batr. Rept., 1875, p. 39. 

 Georgia ohsoleta Baird and Girard, Cat. N. Amer. Rept., Pt. 1, Serp., 1853, p. 158 



(not Coluber obsoletns Say). 

 Spilotes erebeunus Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1860, p. 564; Check-list 



N. Amer. Batr. Rept., 1875, p. 39. 



General color above black ; some of the scales having dashes of red- 

 dish white at their bases, scarcely indicating blotches; the same color 

 is sometimes shown on the skin. Beneath slate-black. The color is 



