CROCODILIANS, LIZATIDS, AND HNAKES. 



001 



Body subcylindrical, deeper than broad; tail forming about the 

 eighth of the total length. Scales rhomboidal, perfectly smooth, con- 

 stituting nineteen rows; the outer row slightly broader than the rest. 



Ground color brilliant red 

 above, fading below, annnlated 

 with fifteen pairs of jet-black 

 rings from head to anus, and 

 three pairs on the tail, each pair 

 inclosing a whire ring. Head 

 from the eyes to the snout red, 

 vertical plate maculated with 

 black. A black bar across the 

 occipitals to the temporal shields, 

 and another on the ne(;k, between 

 which is a yellowish ring, narrow 

 above, and spreading over the 

 angle of the mouth, posterior up- 

 per labials, and inferior surface 

 of the head. The black rings 

 cover from two to three scales, and the intermediate white, one scale. 

 The red spaces between the black embrace from four to seven scales. 

 The black rings taper toward the sides, while the white ones are 

 spreading. 



Fig. 221. 



Osceola klapsoidea Holbrook. 



XI. r>. 



Florida. 



Onceola eJapsoidea Holbrook. 



The relations of this species to the 0. doliafa coccinea are interesting. 

 The characters of typical examples of the two are clear enough, but in 

 one specimen and another they all fall. Florida specimens are gener- 

 ally true to those of 0. elapsoidca, but in the other (Julf States excep- 

 tions occur. Thus, Cat. No. 5560 (Columbus, Georgia), is a coccinea with 



