904 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



dorsal spots on each side the nape, embraciug in some specimens a 

 similar longitudinal spot on the parietal scuta. 



The head is very httle distinct from the body, and the muzzle is 

 obtuse, with the rostral plate four-fif'ths as high as wide. The loreal 

 plate is small, and generally more nearly square tlian in Osceola doliata. 

 The eye is small, and the inferior of the two posloculars is-longer than 

 deep. Temporals 2-3-4. The superior labials are deeper than long, 

 except the first and the last. The scales of the body are in twenty-one 

 rows. They are rather wide and graduated in dimensions, the increase 

 in size of the first and second rows not being abrupt. 



Cat. X 08. 



TTjiper labiala . Gastrosteges. Urostege.s. Scales. 



2357. . 

 13613. 



203. 



205. 



48. 

 43. 



21. 



21. 



Length. Tail. 



min. mm. 



698. 98. 



747. 95. 



Tins species was for a long time rare in our museums, but recently a 

 good many specimens have been taken, especially from the neighbor- 

 hood of Washington, District of Columbia. Its range is from Georgia 

 to the Potomac Eiver, so far as known. Two, and probably three, speci- 

 mens have been recently taken on the Virginia side of that river; one 

 near Alexandria, and one near Munson's Hill by Dr. A. K, Fisher. Dr. 

 Fisher showed me his specimens, which belongs to the Museum of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, in a fresh state. It did not 

 exhibit the bright salmon red of the belly described and figured by 

 Holbrook, but was of a cream color with large pale reddish spots. 



The affinities of this species to the Osceola doliata are not close, on 

 account of the wide difference in penial characters. The color pattern 

 and shades are quite different, but a^iart from this the external dis- 

 tinctive features are few. The uniform presence of three temporals in 

 the second row is contrasted with the usual occurrence of but two in 

 the 0. doliata. The penial structure allies it to the Ojyhiholus calligaster 

 and is widely different from that of the Osceola doliata. 



Ophibolus rhomboviaculatus Holbrook, 



