CROCODILIANS, LIZARDS, AND SNAKES. 925 



eye on the upper msirgiu of the labials. The fore i)art of the licad and 

 chiu and throat much maculated witli black. 



Measurements. — Total leugth of specimen, 5;}2 mm. (21 iuches); length 

 of tail, 50 mm. (2 iuches). 



Dr. Stejneger^ remarks on this subject as follows: 



The type specimen oH Stilosoma extenuatiun is described as possessing no separute 

 l)refrontiils (these being fnsed with the interuasals), uo loreal, and no preocnhirs. 

 The large interuasals join the sapralabials and enter the eye, and the parietals join 

 the su^jralabials behind the postoculars, excluding the temporals from the latter. 



The three additional specimens seem to prove that the ouly normal and stable 

 cliaracters among the above are the absence of the loreal and the joining of the 

 parietals and supralabials. The absence of the preocular is only found in +ho tyy)e, 

 while the fusion of the interuasals with the prefrontals is found iu the type and in 

 one of the Orange County specimens as well, but not iu the other two, in which 

 they are normally separated. 



CONTIA Baird and Girard. 



Covtia Baisd and Girard, Cat. N. Amer. Rejjt., Pt. 1, Serp., 1853, p. 110. — Cope, 

 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 18G0, p. 251; Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 32, 1887, 

 p. 53. — BouLENGER, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., II, 1894, p. 255. 



Eirenis Jan, Elenco Sist. Otid., 1863, p. 48. 



? Sonora Baird and Girard, Cat. N. Amer. Kept., Pt. 1, Serp., 1853, p. 117. 



Dentitiou complete, and the teeth of maxillary bone of equal length. 

 The scales are smooth and without pits, and the anal plate is divided. 

 The head shields are normal; the nasal, usually entire in the genus, 

 is sometimes half divided by a suture from the nostril to the labial 

 border. Two pairs of geneials; a loreal; rostral obtuse. The head is 

 little distinct from the body, and the pupil is round. 



There is but one Medicolumbian species, and it is characterized as 

 follows : 



Scales in 15 rows; superior labials 7; body depressed, rostral not prominent; back 

 brown, with pale edges; sides lead-colored; below crossbarred. 



C. wi^js Baird and Girard. 



CONTIA MITIS Baird and Girard, 



Contia mitia Baird and Girard, Cat. N. Amer. Kept., Pt.l, Serp., 1853, p. 110. — 

 Girard, U. S. Exj)!. Exp., Ilerpt., 1858, p. 125, pi. x, figs. 6-12; Kep. U. S. 

 Ex])]. K. R., X, Pt. 3, 1859, pi. xxxvi, fig. 7.— Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 

 Phila., 1861, p. 74; Check-list N. Amor. Batr. Rept., 1875, p. 36.— Garman, 

 N. Amer. Rept., 1883, p. 93.— Bocoritr, Miss. Sci. Mcx., Kept., 1883, p. 557, pi. 

 xxxiv, fig. 3.— BouLENciER, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., II, 1894, p. 297. 



Abldbes ptu'jyureocauda Gvtf'ruKU, Cat. Col. Snakes 15rit. Mus., 1858, p. 245. 



Jlomalosoma mite Jan, Arch. Zool. Anat. I'hys., II, 1862, p. 35; Icon. Gon. Ophid., 

 1865, Pt. 13, pi. IV, fig. 1. 



Head ovoidal and with the body mu(;h depressed, rather short, with 

 the snout truncated. One anterior and two or one postorbitals. Eye 

 small. Dorsal scales in fifteen rows. 



Head almost as deep as the body, snout protrnding over the lower 

 jaw, and obliquely truncated. Vertical plate hexagonal, sides nearly 



'Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XVII, 1894, p. 323. 



