TANTILLA. 131 



Genus T A ]V T I L L A, Baird & Girard. 



Gen. Char. Head slender, continuous with the body. Cephalic 

 plates normal. Postfrontals proportionally large, separated from the 

 labials to which they approximate, between the postnasal and ante- 

 orbital. Two nasals, nostrils in the anterior plate. No loral. An- 

 terior orbital one ; posterior one or two. Eyes below the medium 

 size. Body slender, subcylindrical ; tail tapering. Scales smooth in 

 in 15 rows. Postabdominal scutella bifid. Subcaudal all divided, 

 Unicolor. 



1. Tantilla coronata, B. & 6.— One anteorbital, two postorbitals. 

 Body uniform reddish brown ; head deep chestnut-brown, with a black band 

 across the neck above, in advance of which is a narrow lighter space. 



Snout prominent. Vertical plate hexagonal, anteriorly and pos- 

 teriorly acute. Occipitals slender, rounded exteriorly. Postfrontals 

 angular, excluded from the orbit, though extending on the sides of 

 the head. Prefrontals triangular. Rostral proportionally broad. 

 Nostrils situated on the posterior margin of the prenasal plate, and 

 visible from above. Postnasal elongated, contiguous anteriorly to 

 the anteorbital plate, and above to the postfrontal. No loral plate. 

 Eyes rather small, circular. Superciliaries proportionally large, 

 angular. Anteorbital one ; postorbitals two, all angular. A large 

 pretemporal shield, and two smaller ones behind. Mouth deeply cleft. 

 Upper labials 7 ; 7th the largest; 3d and 4th beneath the eye. In- 

 ferior labials 7 ; 4th the largest. Mental scutellse one pair. Body 

 slender, tail rather short, tapering into a point. Scales subelliptical, 

 considerably broader in outer row. 



Ground-color of body uniform reddish brown; light beneath. 

 Head deep chestnut-brown; upper part of neck with a blackish 

 brown half-ring, covering 3 scales in length, between which and the 

 head a narrow space of the ground-color exists, across the tip of the 

 occipitals. 

 Kemper Co., Miss. 143+1. 35. 15. 8|. 1^%. D. C Lloyd. 



