166 COLUBEID^. 



from above ; nasals sometimes entire or semidivided ; iuternasals 

 nearly as long as broad, as long as the praefroufals ; frontal narrow, 

 nearly twice as long as broad, with concave sides, slightly longer 

 than its distance from the end of the snout, as long as the parietals ; 

 loreal a little longer than deep ; one or two prte- and two post- 

 oculars ; temporals 1 + 2 ; eight upper labials, fourth and fifth 

 entering the eye ; five lower labials in contact with the anterior 

 chin-shields, which are as long as or a little longer than the 

 posterior. Scales in 19 rows. Ventrals 186-198 ; anal divided ; 

 subcaudals 75-92. Length of tail 4 to 4| times in the total length. 

 Pale buff above, with two alternating series of large black spots ; 

 a broad black stripe from the eye to the side of the neck ; upper lip, 

 two or three outer rows of scales, and lower surface white. 



Total length 740 miUim. ; tail 170. 



Western Argentina. 



a-b. 6 (V. 198 ; C. 86) & Mendoza. 



2 (V. 193 ; 0. 75). 

 c-f. 6 (V. 196, 197, 186 ; Tucuman. 



"C. 86, 92, 82) & yg. 

 (V. 187 ; C. 76). 



7. Rhadinaea cobella. 



Coluber cobella, Linn. Mus. Ad. Frid. p. 24 (1754), and S. N. i. 



p. 378 (1766) ; Merr. Beitr. i. p. 16, pi. iv., and ii. p. 32, pi. viii. 



(1790). 

 Elaps cobella, Schneid. Hist. Amph. ii. p. 296 (1801). 

 Coluber cenchrus, Baud. Ilept. vii. p. 139 (ItiO^). 



serpentinus, part.. Baud. I. c. p. 87. 



Coronella cobella, Schley. Phys. Se)-p. ii. p. 63, pi. i. figs. 4 & 5 



(1837). 

 Liophis cobella, Ditm. 8r Bibr. vii. p. 698 (1854) ; Giinth. Cat. p. 43 



(1858) ; Jan, Icon. Gen. 16, pi. v. fig. 1 (1866). 

 Ophiomorphus cobella, Cojk, Proc. Ac. P/ii/ad. 1862, p. 75. 

 Liophis tseniogaster, J(m, Arch. Zool. Anat. Phys. ii. 1863, p. 292, 



and Icon. Gen. 18, pi. i. (1866). 



Eye rather small, liostral broader than deep, visible from above ; 

 internasals as long as broad or a little broader, as long as or a 

 little shorter than the prcefrontals ; frontal once and a half to once 

 and three fourths as long as broad, as long as or slightly longer than 

 its distance from the end of the snout, a little shorter than the 

 parietals ; loreal as long as deep or deeper than long ; one ])r8e- and 

 two postoculars ; temporals 1+2; eight upper labials, fourth and 

 fifth entering the eye ; five lower labials in contact with the anterior 

 chin-shields, which are as long as or a little longer than the 

 posterior. Scales in 17 rows. Ventrals 143-163 ; anal divided ; 

 subcaudals 45-57. Length of tail 4| to 6 times in the total 

 length. Brown or blackish above, with whitish lines or cross bands ; 

 belly yellowish (coral-red in life) with transverse black spots 

 or cross bands, always more or less marked in the young, which 

 have a blackish nuchal coUar edged behind with whitish, and a 



