CKOCODILrANS, LIZARDS, AND SNAKES. 1121 



fourth times in total leugth. Baird and Girard -iveti.,- f..i;..\v,no „ui„- 

 bers of scntella" and measuremonts, the latter in inches: 



r,i ," . -, , C.astnistegcs. I rostcges. I-.-nstli. Tail, 



thaileston, .soiitii CaroliuM oqj .^q <,^j^ g^ 



Sau Pedro of Kio Grande 237+2. I'O m if 



New Braui.n.ls, Texas 230+1. 29. 26.' 2^ 



^'" 221+1. 38. 22. 2j! 



The red may be eonsidered as the ground color of the body, though 

 the black rings occupy nearly as much space above as the red, sols 

 to give the general appearance of a succession of red and black rings. 

 The yellow is intermediate. The anterior part of the head from the 

 posterior point of the vertical plate, embracing the orbits, is black, as 

 IS also the tip of the lower jaw. A yellow ring passes across the 

 occipital region down to the inferior surface of the head, embracing the 

 space between the posterior rim of the eye and the angle <.f the mouth. 

 Then comes a black ring, covering eight dorsal scales, margined pos- 

 teriorly with yellow. From this region to the origin of the tail the 



Fig. 322. 

 El.aps fulvius LiNN.Ers. 



black and red rings, from fourteen to nineteen in number each, alternate, 

 being separated from each other by a narrow band of vellow. The black 

 rings cover seven entire scales and two halves, the intermediate red 

 space five entire scales and two halves, and the yellow either one and 

 two half-scales or two halves only. Some red spaces may occasionally 

 cover nine and ten scales. The tail is alternately black and yellow; 

 the first caudal ring is black, and embraces ten scales: the second is 

 yellow, and covers three scales. Two black and two yellow succeed 

 and cover the same ground. The tip of the tail is black on five scales. 

 The tip may be either black or yellow, for, according to the size, there 

 are either three or four black rings. Underneath, the colors arc the 

 same, but dull; occasionally one or more black rings may not surround 

 the body. The reddish spaces are irregularly blotched wit!, deep hhick, 

 as also sometimes on the upper surface. 



Specimens from western Te.vas (Indianola on the Gulf of Mexico and 

 the l»ecos Eiver on the north) differ somewhat from those from farther 

 east, and furnished the bases for the supposed species F. tcner Baird 

 and Girard. Generally the frontal plate is not wider than the super- 

 ciluary, but in one specimen it is as wide as in the typical form (Cat. Xo. 

 8574). The red spaces are more closely spotted and blotched with 

 black, the blotch on the belly being especially large. The yellow bor- 

 NAT MUS 98 71 



