62 SYNOPSES AND DESCRIPTIONS. 



Bright Vermillion, punctulatc with brown, passing through orange to 

 golden on the belly. Head and neck for ten scales backward black. 

 Labials bordered and traversed by yellow lines. Parietals dotted with 

 yellow. (From dcscr.) Guadalaxara, Me.\ico. 



Tachymenis proterops. 



CoNiopiiANES PROTEROPS Cope, 1860, Pr. Ac. N. Sc., Phil., 249. 



Small; head scarcely distinct from the neck, muzzle not elevated. 

 Anterior plates of the head small. Loreal a little longer than high. 

 One pre, two postoculars. Labials seven, third and fourth in orbit. Fron- 

 tal elongate. Parietals long. Infralabials nine. Submentals two pairs, 

 subequal. Ventrals 130. Anal bifid. 



Light brown above, every scale densely punctulated with darker, 

 especially near the margins. From the first to the fourth rows this is 

 deeper, giving the sides a darker shade. The vertebral rows of scales 

 from the occipitals to the end of the tail are also darker. Top of the head 

 densely and obscurely vermiculated and punctulated. The dark shade on 

 the fourth row of scales becomes a band anteriorly, and is bordered above 

 and below with white on the neck. The lower white border is continued 

 to the eye, and is bordered above on the labials with black. The upper 

 white border is discontinued on the neck, but reappears as a spot three 

 scales back of the occipitals. Inferior half of rostral, upper and lower 

 labials, chin, throat, and belly, light brownish-yellow, densely punctulated 

 with bi'own. Each labial with a darker spot in the center. Fewer punc- 

 tulations on the urosteges. (From descr.) Jalapa, Mexico. 



Tachymenis fissidens. 



CouoNKi.LA KissiDijNs GiiiUhci; 1858, Cat. Col. Snakes, 36. 



Scales in 19 — 21 rows. Anal bifid. Labials eight, fourth and fifth in 

 orbit. 



Back greyish-olive, the darker coloration of the sides well defined to- 

 wards the back. A black streak, sometimes white-edged beneath, through 

 the eye. On both sides of the anterior part of the trunk a white band, 

 beginning at the occiput, and soon disappearing. Belly white, on the 

 sides some irregular small black spots. Hinder maxillary tooth longest, 

 grooved. Mexico. 



