48 " SYNOPSES AND D-ESCEIPTIONS. 



SriLOTES COUPEKI. 

 Coluber couperi Holhmok, 1842, Herp. N. Amer. Ill, 75. 

 Spii-otes COUPEKI Copr, 1800, /'/•. Ac. N. Sc, Plnl., ?A-2 and 564. 



Elongate, stout; head distinct from the neck, high, crown arching lon- 

 gitudinally; tail short, near one sixth of the total. CroAvn-shields nine. 

 Rostral broader than high. Frontal about as broad as long. Nasal in 

 two parts, nostril- between. A loreal. Oculars 1—2, anterior large. 

 Labials seven, anterior smaller, eye over the fourth and fifth, fourth sup- 

 porting the postorbital, fifth small triangular, sixth very large, extending 

 forward over the fifth, seventh large. Scales lustrous, imbricate, smooth, 

 in 17 rows. Ventrals 184 — 190. Anal entire. Subcaudals 60, not divided. 



Lustrous black. Belly more or less i^lumbeous; yellowish under the 

 throat and neck. The young are probably more yellow on the anterior 

 portions. Georgia, Texas. 



Spilotes obsoletus. 



Coluber obsoletus IMbrook, 1842, N. A. Herp. Ill, p. 01, pi XII. 



Body long, stout, compressed; head distinct from the neck; tail near 

 one sixth of the total. Ej^e medium, over the fourth and fifth labials. 

 Labials eight, fifth and seventh not in contact, sixth small, wedge-shaped. 

 Infralabials nine, fourth and fifth largest. A loreal, sometimes two. 

 Orbitals 1 — 2, posterior resting on the fifth labial. Scales in 17 rows. 

 Ventrals 193. Subcaudals 56—60. 



Black, plumbeous below; anterior half of the body with reddish-white 

 spots on the bases of some of the dorsal scales, and on the bases of ven- 

 trals. On the sides and under the head yellowish-red. Posterior margins 

 of labials and lower plates of the head black. Texas. 



Spilotes corais. 



Coluber corais Dmulin, 1803, Hist. Eept. VII, 23. 

 . SpiLOTEij CORAIS Dum. & Bibr., 1854, Erp. Gin. VII, 223. 



Elongate, stout, somewhat compressed; head large, suliquadrangular in 

 cross section at the eye, crown flat ; tail rather less than one fifth of the 

 total, tapering. Eye moderate, ])upil round. Mouth-cleft deep, curved. 

 Teeth gradually enlarging backward, smooth. Snout prominent, broad, 

 rounded. Crown-.shiclds iiorni;il. Iiitei-nasals subquadrate. Frontal and 

 prefrontals short; the latter bent down on the sides of the face to the loreal. 

 Rostral broader than high. Nasal divided. One preDcular, broader above. 



