188 Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History. 



allel. Six sapralabials (seven on one side in one of the exam- 

 ples), third and fourth largest, eye above the third, the fifth 

 crowded aw^ay from the margin. Dorsal scales in nineteen 

 rows, three outer rows with scales smooth and shining, first 

 row with no carinae, second row with very faint carinas. Veu- 

 trals 138-150. Subcaudals 26-34 pairs, the first number being 

 from an example in which the tail was probably imperfect. 



Color above dark brown, with a gray stripe one and two half 

 scales wide extending from occiput to tip of tail. Three outer 

 rows of scales gray, each scale of the first row with a black 

 spot at base. Head olive brown above; supralabials gray. Be- 

 neath ranging from whitish in small examples to gray in the 

 largest one. Each ventral plate of the largest example with a 

 transverse black spot in the middle of its base, each spot after 

 the first ten or so, notched behind at its middle. Towards the 

 vent the notches grow deeper, and a short distance before it, 

 separate the spots into two. In the smaller examples these 

 spots are all divided. Subcaudals, each with a black basal spot 

 in the largest example; wanting in the smaller ones. 



This is not the first record of the occurrence of this serpent 

 north of the Ohio River. In Dr. Yarrow's list of the reptiles 

 and hatrachians in the United States National Museum, I find 

 " Hughes, Ohio," given as the locality for an example. It 

 bears a superficial resemblance to species of Storeria. 



Not mentioned in Dr. Jordan's Manual of Vertebrates. 



Hydrops abacnrus, Gray. 



A fine example of this beautiful serpent is in the State 

 Laboratory collection from Union county. 



Bana pa'hisfris, LeC. 



The only examples which I have seen from the State were 

 collected by me some years ago in the western part of Union 

 county, in southern Illinois. They differed from all the east- 

 ern examples I have examined, in having the two central longi- 

 tudinal rows of spots completely fused in two broad stripes. 

 The species does not occur on the prairies. 



liana jyipiens, Schreber. 



This is the R. virescens and IL JiaJcrina of authors. The 

 ])rairie variety is of a decided green above, with large spots 



