REGINA. 45 



Genus R. E G I ]¥ A, Baird & Girard. 



Gen. Char. Body slender ; tail subconical, very mucli tapering, 

 forming one-third or one-fourth of the total length. Head conical, 

 continuous with the body, and proportionally small. Eyes large. 

 Mouth deeply cleft. Labials small. Loral and nasals large. Scales 

 carinated. Cephalic plates normal. Anterior orbitals 2, occasion- 

 ally one ; posterior 2, occasionally 3. Last and sometimes last but one 

 abdominal scutellas bifid or divided. Subcaudal scutellae all divided. 

 Dorsal rows of scales 19-21. Abdominal scutellse 132-162. Sub- 

 caudal 52-86. General color five or more longitudinal dark bands 

 on a lighter ground. Abdomen unicolor, or likewise provided with 

 similar bands. Aquatic. 



1. Retina leberiS, B. & G. — Chestnut-brown, with a lateral yellow 

 band, and three narrow black dorsal vittaj. Abdomen yellowish, with four 

 brown bands, two of which are lateral and two medial. Dorsal rows of 

 scales 19, all carinated. 



Syn. Coluber lehcris, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. x, I, 17GG, 216. — Gm. Linn. Syst. 

 Nat. ed. xiii, I, iii, 1788, 1086.— Shaw Gen. Zool. Ill, iii, 1804, 4S3. 



Coluber septemvittatus, Say, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. IV, 1825, 240. — 

 Hakl. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. V, 1827, 355 ; and Med. & Phys. Res. 

 1835, 118. 



Tropidonoius leberis, IIolbr. N. Amer. Herp. IV, 1842, 49. PI. xiii. — Dekay, 

 New York Fauna, Kept. 1842, 45. PL xi, tig. 23. 



Head small, very much depressed, flattened on the region behind 

 the orbit, sloping anteriorly. Vertical plate pentagonal, proportion- 

 ally broad. There are two anteorbitals, the upper one the larger ; 

 and two postorbitals, the upper one the smaller. The loral is large 

 and higher than long. One tcmpoi-al shield only. Upper labials, 

 8; 6th and 7th largest. Lower labials 10; 5th and 6th largest. 

 Scales regularly elliptical, slightly notched posteriorly, and all of 

 them carinated, gradually diminishing in width from the sides to- 

 wards the middle line of the back. Those of the outer row one-third 

 broader than the rest, and posteriorly subtruncated. 



