104 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OF 



on the middle of each scale. A similar line, equally indistinct, traverses the 

 scales of the fifth row, becoming more apparent on the tail. Color of lower 

 surfaces deep orange red ; lower labials and chin blackish. 



Length of head and body 16 in. 9 lin. 



This s])eciesis nearest the D. brevirostris Peters,* andD. tern po ral isf 

 Cope. The two preorbitals, single large temporal, coloration and other points 

 distinguish it. Its form is that of Pliocercus Cope, but belongs to Dromicus on 

 account of its diacranterian dentition. 



Two specimens (0*702) from the elevated valley of Quito. 



Tachymenis canilatus Cope, sp. nov. 



This species differs from the known species in a more slender form ; and in 

 general appeai-ance approaches the Lygophis e 1 e g a n s of Tschudi. 



Scales in nineteen rows, elongate, thin, with single terminal pores. Supe- 

 rior labials eight, fourth and fifth bounding orbit, sixth larger than seventh. 

 Inferior labials ten, fifth and sixth long and narrow. Posterior geneials longest. 

 Nasals large, distinct; loreal long as high, lower in front; preocular single, 

 just reaching vertical ; postoculars two. Temporals 1—1 — 2, the middle one 

 largest. Parietals narrowed behind, whole plate one-fifth longer than frontal, 

 common suture one-fifth shorter than same. Frontal narrower than each su- 

 perciliary, spreading a little in front. Muzzle flat, internasals longer than 

 broad, canthus rostralis strong. Rostral small, fiat Gastrosteges 199, anal 

 1 — 1, urosteges 98. Total length 18 in. 4 1.; of tail 5 in. 4 ; of gape 5 lin. 



Color leaden gray on the sides, bounded above on the sides by a faint black- 

 ish streak ; dorsal region brownish grey, witli a double row of brown spots, 

 when confluent covering five rows of scales. On the posterior half the body 

 and tail they unite into a vertebral band, which is separated from the gray of 

 the sides by a pale brown band. A dark band through frontal plate, split by 

 a pale one; a pair of white dots on the parietals, as in Tropidonotus sp. 

 Lips and belly below light yellow, the former brown-specked medially, black 

 margined above posteriorly. A brown band outside of muzzle. Each gas- 

 trostege with a row of brown dots its whole length. 



This species was not obtained by the Orton expedition, but was sent from 

 Guayaquil to the Smithsonian Institution in a collection made by Messrs. 

 Destruger and Reeve. 



CoNioPHANES DROMiciFORMis Cope, Proc. Acad. 1866, 128. Tachymenis dromici- 



formis Peters, Monatsberichte Preuss. Ac. 1863, 273. 



In four specimens of this species I find no scale-pores, and but one preocu- 

 lar. Prof. Peters describes scale-pores as present in his tj"pes, but I failed to 

 see them on examination of the same specimens, which he permitted me to 

 make. This character alone distinguishes this genus from Tachymenis, 

 though I ascribed the same importance, on a former occasion, to a supposed 

 difference in the number of preocular plates. That this is of little value in this 

 case, I can now agree with Peters in believing. 



From Guayaquil. No. 6689. 



Rhadin^a chrysostoma Cope, sp. nov. 



This species agrees with those of Rhadinaea m technical characters only. 

 Its proportions are those of Opheomorphus, from which it differs in the entirely 

 equal teeth. It might be referred to Hypsirhynchus, but in that genus there 

 is a single scale-pore, in the present they are wanting. The vertebr;e are not 

 furnished with hypapophyses on the posterior third of the length, but are 

 keeled below. 



Head elongate oval, quite distinct ; muzzle truncate when viewed from above 

 or in profile, not projecting. Rostral plate scarcely visible from above ; pre- 

 nasal higher than postnasal; loreal high as long, encroaching very little on 

 preocular, which latter does not reach frontal. Oculars 1 — 2, temporals 1 — 2. 



* Monatsberictite Preuss. Aeademie Wiss. 1803, 280. 

 t Proc. A. N. Sci. 1860, 307. 



[March, 



