978 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



Eostral broad, low, divided iu two by a vertical suture. Loreal higher 

 than long. Oculars 2-3, the superior anterior shorter than the inferior; 

 the inferior posterior so produced forward as to exclude the fifth supe- 

 rior labial from the orbit. Superior labials nine, the fourth only enter- 

 ing the orbit. Temi)orals 1-3, the superior of the second series elongate. 



The color is olive-brown above, dirty white below. There is a row of 

 blackish spots along the sides, of small size, which cover the adjacent 

 parts of three scales of the first and second rows, and which are sepa- 

 rated by an interspace of one and a half scales. These sj)ots are 

 wanting from the anterior fourth of the length. Above the interval 

 between them there is, on each side, a longitudinal dusky spot, which 

 is entirely separate from that of the opposite side, and which is sepa- 

 rated from the adjacent ones by a space of a lighter brown than the 

 ground color. These longitudinal spots begin at the head and dis- 

 appear near the middle of the length, after acquiring a tendency to 

 extend obliquely downward and backward. Head without marks, 

 except three pale spots on the parietals ; one on each side of the median 

 suture, and one at the angle of the frontal. Belly unicolor, except at 

 the lateral spots, which extend over the posterior angle of the gastros- 

 teges. Inferior surface of tail black-speckled. 



Cat. No. 14643 ; gastrosteges, 143 + 1 ; urosteges, 67 ; length, 271 mm. ; tail, 66 mm. 



A single specimen of this species was found in the grounds adjacent 

 to the central station of the United States Fish Commission in the 

 heart of the city of Washington, and no second one has been obtained. 

 It is a singular circumstance that this species should have remained so 

 long unknown. By its scutellation and color pattern it is absolutely 

 distinct from any other siiecies of the genus, either of America or any 

 other country. It is probably one of the rare species like theiV. rigida 

 and the Hyla andersonii, which are only seen at long intervals. 



Natrix iisecta Cope. 



NATRIX COMPRESSICAUDA Kennicott. 



Nat7-ix compressicauda Cope, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mns., XI, 1888, p. 392.— Boulengek, 



Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., I, 1893, p. 238. 

 Tropidonotns compressicaiidus COPE, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1861, p. 74. — 



Cope, Check-list N. Amer. Batr. Rept., 1875, p. 42. 

 Nerodia compressicauda Kennicott, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1860, p. 335. 



Scales in rows from nineteen to twenty-one, all keeled. Oculars, one 

 to three; temporals, one, two, or three. Superior labials, eight, fourth 

 and fifth entering orbit. Tail compressed and elevated at the base. 

 Above light yellowish brown, with brown spots or cross bands. Below 

 brown, with a median series of rounded yellow spots, extending from 



