CROCODILIANS, LIZARDS, AND SNAKES. 



1013 



LIODYTES ALLENII Garman. 



Liodyles allenii Cope, Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc, 1886, p. 495. 

 Helicopn aUenii Boulengkr, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., I, 1893, ji. 275. 



Body subcyliiidrical, retaining its size in the middle and tapering 

 abruptly near tlie extremities; head not larger than the neck; nasal 

 plates single, in contact between prefrontal and rostral; one prefrontal ; 

 lorealand anteorbital present; three postorbitals, not in contact with 

 the temporals; two or more rows of carinate scales on the tail; color 

 in longitudinal bands. 



Body of moderate size, subcylindrical, tapering in the anterior and 

 posterior lifths; head subconical, depressed continuous with the body; 

 eyes medium, circular, distant from the end of the snout and from each 

 other about one-fourth of the total length of the head ; mouth inferior, 

 deeply cleft, outline sharply curved in its posterior third ; tail smaller 

 than the body, tapering abruptly in the anterior third, posterior two- 



Fig. 274. 



LlODYTES ALLENII GAHMAN. 

 — I. 



Volusia, Florida. 



Collection of E. D. Cope. 



thirds slender. Rostral shield very small, five-angled ; internasal small, 

 rhomboid, posterior angle rounded, transverse diameter the greater; 

 postfrontals six-sided, the smaller next the loreal, rounded angle 

 backward; vertical moderate, six-angled, narrower forward; supercili- 

 aries shorter than the vertical, five sided, narrow, wider above the post- 

 orbitals; occipitals larger, separated in front by the angle of the ver- 

 tical; one loreal, small, four-sided, smaller next the frontal; nasals sin- 

 gle, nearly elliptical, bearing the minute circular nostril to the lower 

 posterior angle; upper labials eight, third and fourth entering into the 

 orbit, sixth and seventh larger; lower eleven, fifth and sixth larger; 

 five shields between labials and occipitals. 



Scales of tlie body in nineteen rows, smooth, hexagonal, those in the 

 vertebral rows twice as long as wide, in the exterior wider than long, 

 those of the tail strongly keeled in the three vertebral rows, slightly 

 in the next two; abdominals, 128; anal bifid; subcaudals, 58 pairs. 



