1058 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



EUTiENIA LEPTOCEPHALA Baird and Girard. 



KuUvnia Jepioceplxda Baird and Girard, Cat. N. Amer. Reptiles, Pt. 1, Serpents, 

 1853, p. 29.— Cope, in Yarrow's Reptilia, Rept. U. S. Gcog. Surveys W. of 

 100th Mer., V, p. 550; Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1883, p. 23. 



Kidwnia cooperii Kknnicott, U. S. Pac. R. R. Surveys, XII, Pt. 2, p. 296.— Copp:, in 

 Yarrow's R'eptilia, Rept. U. S. Geog. Surveys W. of lOOth Mt-r., V, p. 551, 



Eiitwiiia atrata Kknnicott, Rept. U. S. Pac. R. R. Surveys, XII, 1859, p. 296. 



Head little or not distiuet from the body; tlie latter rather robust; 

 the tail short, and between one-fourth and one-fifth the total length. 



Scales in seventeen or nineteen 

 longitudinal rows, the inferior 

 smooth or fully keeled, as deep as 

 or deeper than long, the others of 

 graduated widths to the narrow 

 middle rows. Eye rather small; 

 oculars 2 (1-3); loreal not larger 

 than high. Frontal not wide, but 

 ^'''^'- '^'^''- twice as wide as the superciliaries 



EUT.^CNIA I.KI'TOC'KPHALA BaIHD AND GlItAKI). ■ n i. j. l • ^ 1„„ 



_ in front, not reaching preocular. 



r.u No. Ml, u.s.N.M. None of the superior labials longer 



than higli, seven in number, with 

 a tendency to the fusion of the third and fourth or fourth and fifth, or 

 all three. Preocular and loreal region grooved. Temporals, l--f-3. 

 Scuta and measurements (in inches) according to Baird and Girard. 



Gastrosteges. Urosteges. Length. Tail. 



Puget Souud, Oregon 146. 59. 16. S,',;. 



Do 149. 66. 23^. 5. 



Do 144. 63. m. 4f. 



Do 148. (?) 20. 4. 



Measurements. — Type: Total length, 590 mm; of tail, 128 mm. 



Color varying from light reddish brown to black, with dorsal and 

 lateral stripes present or absent. When the lateral spots are present 

 they are small, are ranged along the borders of the stripes, or their 

 positions, and are not in contact with each other. Belly varying from 

 black to olive with blackish shades on the bases or more of the gastro- 

 steges, and without definite spots on the extremities of the latter. 



This variable species may be distinguished from E. sirtalis, its near- 

 est ally, by the narrow, scarcely distinct head, more strongly grooved 

 preocular region ; the small size of the dorsal spots when present, and 

 the absence of spots on the ends of the gastrosteges. There are, how- 

 ever, some specimens in which the head is of much the shape of that of 

 the E. sirtalis, and some of the latter {E. s. (jraminea) have no spots 

 on the ends of the gastrosteges. The majority of the specimens of the 

 E. leptoceplmla differ further in the presence of two preocular scales, 

 and about half of the specimens have but seventeen rows of scales. 

 On specimens of the latter kind the E. cooperii and E. atrata were 

 established. Of twenty-six specimens examined, twelve have the scales 



