1006 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



VIRGINIA Baird and Girard. 



Virginia Baird and Girard, Cat. N. Amer. Rept., Pt. 1, Serp., 1853, p. 127. — Cope, 

 Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 32, 1887, p. 53; Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XIV, 1892, 

 p. 599.— BouLENGER, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., II, 1894, p. 288. 



Head subelliptical, distinct from the body. Cephalic plates normal. 

 Two nasals; posterior one not invaded by the nostril, Postfrontals 

 and loreal entering into the orbit, and suppressing the anteorbitals. 

 Superciliaries well developed. Mental scutelhe two pairs. Pupil cir- 

 cular. Scales smooth. Postabdominal scutella bifid. Subcaudal scuta 

 all divided. 



The distinctness of the head from the neck, and the relatively narrow 

 frontal plate in this genus, resemble conditions common in the Hatric- 

 iune. The lateral head scuta are like those of Rhahdosoma and its 

 immediate allies. 



But two species are known : 



Scales wide, in 15 rows V. valerice 



Scales narrow, in 17 rows V. eJegans 



These species occur in both the Eastern and Austroriparian districts, 

 the V. elegans in the western part of the latter only. The former has 

 not yet been found north of the Carolinian division of the eastern 

 district. 



VIRGINIA VALERIiE Baird and Girard. 



Virginia valerice Baird and Girard, Cat. N. Amer. Rept., Pt. 1, Serp., 1853, p. 



127. — Cope, Check-list N. Amer. Batr. Rept., 1875, p. 35. — Jan, Icon. Gen. 



Ophid., Pt. 12, pi. II, fig. 5.— BouLENGER, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., II, 1894, 



p. 389. 

 Carpliopliis harperti Dumeril and BiBRO-T, Erp. G<5n., VII, 1854, p. 135. 



Two triangular internasals. Prefrontals large, entering the orbit. 



Frontal pentagonal, longer than wide; 

 parietals still longer, ovate. Nasals bifid. 

 Loreal forming a long subrectaugular 

 plate, which enters the orbit. Postorbitals 

 two, or more rarely, three. The superior 

 largest. Temporals 1-2, anterior large, not 

 or but little in contact with orbitals. Labi- 

 als six, third and fourth in orbit, fifth larg- 

 est, sometimes in contact with the parietal 

 by its upper angle. Infralabials six. Two 

 pairs of elongate submentals, posterior 

 divergent. Scales smooth, in fifteen rows. 

 Gastrosteges, 111. Anal bifid. Uroste- 

 ges, 32. Body rather stout ; tail short. 

 Ground color uniform yellowish or grayish brown; dull j^ellow 

 beneath. Minute black dots are in most cases scattered along the 

 upper part of the body, forming sometimes two longitudinal series, one 

 on each side of the median line. Alone- the middle of each scale is a 



Fig. 270. 



Virginia valeri.^ ^aird and Girard. 



X 1.33. 



Washington, District of Columbia. 



Cat. No. 13300, U.S.N.M. 



