CROCODILIANS, LIZARDS, AND SNAKES. IIGI 



CROTALUS ADAMANTEUS ADAMANTEUS Beauvois. 



Crotahis adamanieus adamanicus Coi'E, Check-list N. Ainer. Batr. Rei^t., 1875, j). 33. 



Croialux adamanlr.us Bkauvois, Traus. Am. Phil. Soc., \\ , 1799, ^i. 368.— Holukook, 

 N. Am. Iferp., Ill, 1842, p. 17. — Uaird and (Jihard, Cat. N. Amer. Rept., I't. 1, 

 Seip., 1853, p. 3. — Le Conte, South. Med. and Surg. .Tourn., IX, 18.53, p. 661. — 

 Ste,ink(;ei:, Rept. U. S. Nat. Mus. for 1893, 1895, p. 433, pl. x. 



Crotalm rhomhifer Latreh.le, Hist. Rept., Ill, 1801, p. 197.— Daudin, Hist. Rept., 

 V, 180L', p. 525.— Dumehil and Bibron, Erp. Gou., VII, 1852, p. 1471. 



Crotaliis diirissHS Shaw, Gen. Zool., 1802, p. 333. 



Crotalus terrifimis Le Conte, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., VI, 18.53, p. 419 (t-xclus. 

 homou. Cuudisona terrifica Laurenti, p. 418). — Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci, 

 Phila., 1859, p. 337 (exclus. homou. 0. terrifica Laurenti). 



CrotaJus oregonus Holbhook, N.Am. Herp., Ill, 1842, p. 21. — Bairo and Girard, 

 Cat. N. Amer. Rept., Pt. 1, Serp., 1853, p. 145. 



Figures,? SiiAW, Gen. Zool., Ill, pl. Lxxxix. — Daudix, Hist. Rept., V, pl. lx, 

 tigs. 22. 23.— HOLBROOK, N.Am. Herp., Ill, pl.ii; U.S. Pacific R. R. Report, 

 Reptiles, pl. xxiv. 



Head wide posteriorly ; muzzleobtuse, not especially elevated. Nasal 

 plates distinct from each other and separated from the two elongate 

 preoculars bj^ two loreals, of which the superior is the smaller, being 

 sometimes quite small. Two rather small internasal plates which are 

 connected with the superciliaries by two large plates of the canthus 

 rostralis, the posterior one of these being quite large. Seven or eight 

 rows of smooth scales between inner edges of superciliaries. Three 

 rows of .scales between orbits and superior labials. The latter number 

 fifteen, the inferior eighteen. The scales of the cheek are smooth. 

 Scales in twenty-seven or twenty-nine rows, the two inferior rows 

 smooth, the third and fourth obsoletely, the rest strongly keeled. 



Scales on the back and sides not conspicuously different in size except 

 the lower two or three rows. Posteriorly, near the tail, all the scales 

 are carinated; except the lowest. 



General color, yellowish gray, with rhomboidal black blotches, lighter 

 in the center, and with all the angles perfect. Or rather there is a 

 series of dull yellowish lines crossing oblicjuely from one side of the 

 abdomen to the other over the back, following the oblique series of 

 scales, and occupying generally the posterior half of each scale, the 

 basal portion being black. These lines, of which there are about 

 thirty-six crossing from each side, from head to tail (nine on tail), 

 decussate first on the tifth or sixth lateral row, and then on the back, 

 where they are more or less confluent three or four rows. The rhom- 

 boids thus enclosed and crossing the back are generally black for one 

 and one half or two scales within the yellowish lines, and the most 

 central portion is dark yellowish brown, mottled with darker. The 

 intervals on the sides between the lines are mostly dark yellowish 

 brown, minutely mottled with dark brown. These intervals constitute 

 a lateral series of transverse rhomboids, sometimes with the lower 

 angle truncated. Opposite to the dorsal rhomboids is a series of small 

 triangles in the angles of the first decussation. The distance between 



