908 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



This species occupies a position between the Osceola doliata and 

 Ophiholu.s getulus hoylii. It is, in fact, an Ophiholus getulus hoylii of slen- 

 der form and reduced size, in which the black spaces between the white 

 rings are more or less split by red. This division, when complete, gives 

 the snake the appearance of the Osceola doliata occiiHtalis, and, to a 

 somewhat less degree, of the 0. d. coccinea. Such are specimens Cat. 

 Nos. 8174, 4292, 10200. When the black is complete just at the middle 

 line of the back, we have a form like 0. d. gentilis, as Cat. No. 8435. 

 In Cat. Nos. 7845, 11753, 13571 the red only appears on the anterior part 

 of the body, and divides completely only a limited number of black 

 rings behind the head. These approach nearest the Ophiholus g. hoylii. 

 The species further varies in the extent to which the black of the front 

 covers the muzzle. The latter is white to the posterior part of the pre- 

 frontal scuta in Cat. Nos. 7845, 8174, 10200; it is speckled at the end and 

 on the sides in Cat. Nos. 8435, 4292, and it is totally black in Cat. Nos. 

 11753, 13571. The yellow half collar crosses the posterior parts of the 

 parietal plates in this species, advancing farther forward than in any 

 of the subspecies of Osceola doliata excepting the 0. d. occipitalis. 



The increased number of scales on the body and on the temporal 

 region indicate that the affinities of this species are stronger with the 

 Ophiholus hoylii than with the Osceola doliata. It inhabits a hotter 

 and a dryer region than the 0. hoylii, and as the conditions of the 

 country are of later geologic origin than are those of California, the 

 habitat of the 0. hoylii, we may conclude that it is a descendant of 

 the latter. It appears in the dry southern part of California. It illus- 

 trates how, under a semitropical sun, a brilliant color makes its appear- 

 ance little by little, and probably in a way totally different from that 

 in which it appeared in the case of the Osceola doliata coccinea. (See 

 that species.) 



Ophiholus pyrrhomelas Cope. 



Catalogue 

 No. 



7845 



8174 



10200 



11421 



8435 

 4292 

 13571 

 13889 

 15402 

 15702 

 22375 



22195 



Number 

 of speci- 

 mens. 



Locality. 



Fort Whipple, Arizona . . 

 Arizona 



White River Canyon, 



Arizona. 

 Fort Whijiple, Arizona . . 



Apache, Arizona 



Fort Union, New Mexico . 



Yosemite, California 



San Diego, California 



Prescott, Arizona , 



do 



M e .s i 1 1 a Valley, * New 



Mexico. 

 Fort Huachuca, Arizona . . 



When 

 collected . 



From whom received. 



— , 18C5 



E. Palmer 



Exp. W.of lOOM 



Dr. R. T. Burr 



Dr.E. Coues, U. S. A.. 



H. W. Henshaw 



Mollhausen 



J.M. Hutchings 



C.R.Orcutt 



Dr. W. L. Carpenter . . 

 Capt. W. L. Carpenter 

 T. D. A. Cockerell .... 



Fisher 



Nature of 

 specimen. 



Alcoholic, 

 do. 

 do. 



Alcohol ic 



type. 

 Alcoholic. 



Alcoholic, 

 do. 

 do. 

 do. 

 do. 



do. 



The specimen of this species described by Lockington as Bellophis 

 zonatus is said to have been brought from northern California. I have 

 examined it and do not find it to differ from those of this species. 



