1000 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



The number of supralabials is variable. In most cases there are 

 eight, but I have two specimens with only seven, and one with only six 

 on one side. In these cases of reduction the posterior ones have become 

 fused, as is shown by their size and the frequent presence of an incom- 

 plete section. 



STORERIA Baird and Girard. 



Storeria Baiud and Girard, Cat. N. Amer. Rept., Pt. 1, Serpents, 1853, p. 135. 

 Ischnognathus DuMt:RiL, Prodrome des Opliidiens, 1853, p. 72. — Dum^ril anil 

 BiBRON, Erp. Q6n., VII, 1854, p. 506. 



Head distinct from the body. Cephalic plates normal. Loreal plate 

 absent. Orbitals posterior and anterior. Nasals two. Body subcylin- 

 drical; tail comparatively short, tapering. Dorsal scales carinated. 

 Anal scutum bifid. Subcaudals divided. Teeth small, numerous, of 

 equal lengths, ungrooved. 



This genus is a reduced type of Natrix, to which it is connected by 

 tbe Mexican K storerioides Cope. Its range is nearctic, extending 

 south as far as the plateau of Vera Paz and Guatemala. 



There are three species of the genus, which differ as follows : 



Oculars 1-2; seven upper labials, the posterior wide; nostril between nasals; belly- 

 grayish white ; a black spot below orbit S. dekayi. 



Oculars 1-2; six upper labials, the posterior narrow; nostril between nasals; no 

 black spot below orbit; belly grayish white S. tropica.^ 



Oculars 2-2; five or six upper labials, the posterior narrow; nostril in anterior 

 nasal ; no dark spot below orbit ; belly red S. occipitomaculata. 



S. tropica agrees with the 8. dekayi Holbrook, excepting in two 

 points. It has but six superior labials. The diminution in the number 

 is posterior to the orbit, and the fifth and sixth scuta are of a different 

 form from those of the >S^. delcayi. They are longer and less elevated. 

 The second character is in the color. This species lacks the dark 

 mark that descends from the orbit to the superior labial margin in the 

 8. delmyi. 



STORERIA DEKAYI Holbrook. 



Storeria dekaiji Baird and Gikard, Cat. N. Amer. Rept., Pt. 1, Serpents, 1853, 

 p. 135.— Cope, Check-list N. Amer. Batr. Rept., 1875, p. 42. 



Tropidonotus dekayi Holbrook, N. Amer. Herp., Ill, 1842, p. 53, pi. xiv.— 

 DeKay, New York Fauna Rept., 1842, p. 46. 



IscJinofjnaihus dekayi Dum^ril and Bibrox, Erp. Gen., VII, 1854, p. 507.— Boulen- 

 GKR, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., 1, 1S93, p. 286. 



Tropidonotiis ordinatun Storer, Rept. Mass., 1839, p. 223. 



One anterior and two posterior orbitals. Dorsal rows seventeen 

 Gray or chestnut-brown above, with a clay colored dorsal baud, mar- 

 gined by dotted lines. A dark patch on each side of the occipital; a 

 dark bar between this and the eye, and two below the orbit. 



Body rather thick in the middle, tapering to the tail and head, both 

 of which are small and slender. Eyes small. Kostral plate about as 



' Storena tropica Cope, Proc. Amer, Phil. Soc, 1884, p. 175. 



