CROCODILIANS, LIZARDS, AND SNAKES. 1109 



SCOLECOPHIS Cope. 



ScolecopMs COPK, Pioc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1860, p. 259; 1861, p. 74.— BocouuT, 

 Miss. Sci. M«jx., Kept., 1883, p. 577.— Boulengeu, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., Ill, 

 1896, p. 210. 



riaiycranion Jan, Eleuco Sist. Olid., 1863, p. 40. 



Ce))halic plates normal; a loreal. Anal plates divided. 



Two species of this geims are known from the Central American 

 region of the neotropical realm. These are the S. atrocinctii.s Schlegel, 

 of the strictly Central American countries, and the S. niie/toacanensis^ 

 Duges, of Mexico proper. To these Boulenger adds my species, Pro- 

 cinura wmula, whicb I referred to a distinct genus on account of the 

 tubercular carination of the robust tail. This is very different from the 

 characteristic of the other species, where the tajl is smooth and slender. 

 However, the value of this character may be for the present problem- 

 atical, so I i^rovisionally follow the Catalogue of the British Museum. 



SCOLECOPHIS ^MULUS Cope. 



ScolecopMs cemulus Boulenger, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mns., Ill, 1896, p. 212. 

 Procinnra lemula Cope, Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc, 1879, p. 262. 



Scales broad, rounded, in fifteen longitudinal series, the median rows 

 rather smaller than the lateral, of which three rows are equal. ^luzzle 

 projecting beyond the mandible, rounded, the rostral plate visible from 



Fig. 317. 



SCOLECOPHIS ^MULTIS COPE. 



= 1. 



Type. 

 Batopilas, Chihuahua. 



Collection of E. D. Coiic. 



above, presenting an obtuse angle posteriorly. Top of head flat. Pre- 

 frontals much wider than long, their external canthal border equal to 

 that of the internasals. Frontal wide, sending a long angle backward. 

 Parietals short, wide; temporals 1-2, the first small, as deep as long. 

 Superior labials seven, all except the first deeper than long, the third 

 and fourth entering the orbit. Preorbital vertical, narrow, not reach- 

 ing frontal; postorbitals two, equal and small. Loreal quadrangular. 

 Inferior labials eight, fourth largest; pregeneials three times as long as 

 postgeneials and separated from gastrosteges by six rows of scales. 

 The dorsal carina; first appear on the twenty- second transverse row of 

 scales anterior to the vent, and occupy the median nine series. All the 



'Having examined the typical specimens throngh the kindness of Dr. Duges, 

 I can confirm Bouleuger's observation that the posterior teeth are grooved. The 

 groove is shallow, like that of Oijmiits uvutHb. 



