REPTILES 219 



32. Liodytes Cope. Stout snakes with a distinct head and smooth 

 scales in 19 rows; caudal scales keeled; body tapering abruptly at both 

 ends: i .species. 



L. allenii (Garman). Length 600 mm.; tail 135 mm.; color of back 

 dark brown ; sides with a broad olive band and a darker band beneath it ; 

 belly yellow, unspotted: Florida and southern Georgia. 



33. Tantilla Baird & Girard. Very small, somewhat poisonous 

 snakes with smooth scales in 15 rows; ventrals about 150; upper labials 

 6 or 7 ; one or more pairs of grooved teeth at the rear of the upper jaw 

 through which poison is injected; closely resembling Sonora, but without 

 a loreal plate: many species in the southern States and Mexico. 



T. coronata B. and G. Length 230 mm.; tail 40 mm.; color reddish 

 brown; lighter beneath; head black or dark brown, with a light neck 

 band followed by a dark one; upper labials 7: Virginia to Mississippi. 



T. gracilis B. & G. Length 140 mm.; tail 30 mm.; color uniform 

 greenish brown ; upper labials 6 : Missouri to Texas. 



T. nigriceps Kennicott. Body brown; head and nape black; 

 upper labials 6 : Texas to Arizona. 



34. Coniophanes Cope. Medium sized and poisonous snakes with 

 smooth scales and double anal plates, closely resembling RhadincBa, 

 but with hinder maxillary teeth grooved : several species in Mexico and 

 Central America, i reaching Texas. 



C. imperialis (Baird). Length 350 mm.; tail 150 mm.; 19 scale 

 rows; color pale brown, with a black band on the back and one on each 

 side from snout to temple: near Brownsville, Texas. 



35. Leptodeira Fitzinger. Medium sized poisonous snakes; hinder 

 maxillary teeth elongate and grooved; scales smooth; and plate double; 

 pupil of eye vertically elliptic; resembling Hypsiglena, but with grooved 

 fangs: 7 species in the American tropics, i entering Texas. 



L. septentrionalis (Kennicott). Length 750 mm.; tail 150 mm.; 

 color Hght brown, with broad rings of black; head black: near Browns- 

 ville, Texas; nocturnal. 



36. Oxybelis Wegler. Extremely slender tree-snakes, with a very 

 long, pointed snout; scales smooth, in obHque rows on the sides; enlarged 

 fangs on the hinder part of the maxilla which are poisonous: 35 species 

 in Central America, i in Arizona. 



0. micro pthalmus Barbour and Amaral. Length 1350 mm.; tail 

 550 mm. ; color reddish above and below, with a white line along the sides 

 of the belly; 17 scale rows; snout four times as long as the eye: southern 

 Arizona. 



