68 SYNOPSES AND DESCRIPTIONS. 



rings are completely divided, those on the following third of the body 

 being divided by red on the sides; the remaining annuli black, three 

 scales wide; white annuli one and one half scales; anterior or nuchal red 

 annulus widest, its anterior black margin attaining the parietals. An 

 ochraceous band from the yular region, not quite completed, across the 

 parietals. Muzzle, i)refrontals, and labial margin ochraceous, remainder 

 of top and sides of head black. Total length 30.5 inches. (From dcscr.) 

 Sonora. 



Ophibolus getulus, pi. F, fig. 3. 



Coluber getulus Linne, 1766, Syst. Nat. cd. XII, 382. 

 Ophibolus getulus Baird & Giranl, 1853, Cat. N. A. Serp., 85. 



Stout, subcylindrical, slightly compressed, belly broad, rounded; neck 

 large; head not very distinct, depressed, narrow in front; tail short, less 

 than one sixth of total, tapering to a point. Eyes medium, over the 

 third and fourth labials, pupil round. Mouth-cleft deep, outline curved. 

 Crown-shields nine, broad. Frontal broader anteriorly. Rostral low, 

 broader than high, convex. Nasal in two parts, nostril between. Loreal 

 small. One large preocular. Postoculars two. Temporals 2-\-3. Labials 

 seven, increasing in size to the sixth. Infralabials nine, liftli largest. 

 Submentals two pairs. Scales rhomboid, smooth, in 21 rows (21 — 23), 

 outer broad. Ventrals 210—225 (with the varieties 210—240). Anal 

 entire. Subcaudals 48 — 55 pairs (48 — 65). 



Lustrous brown to black, exceedingly variable. Back crossed by 25 to 

 35 narrow yellow bands, which bifurcate on the flanks to meet short longi- 

 tudinal bars on the outer rows with which they form more or less complete 

 unions to the bands immediately preceding or following, thus inclosing 

 large spaces of black on the dorsal roAvs. Belly uniform black, black with 

 yellow markings, yellow with quadrangular blotches of black, or nearly to 

 quite uniform yellow. Head spotted M'itli yellow, vertical margins of black. 

 Some specimens are more yellow than black, others have very little yellow. 

 Southeastern United States. 



var. SAY I, pi. V, fi'f/. 4. 



Yellow bands more numerous, sometimes indistinct. All or nearly all 

 of the scales yellow in the center. Rows of scales commonly 21. Mis- 

 sissippi Valley and Southwestward. 



