, ZOOLOGY REPTILES. 15 



PityopTiis annectens. — Catalogue of serpents in Smithsonian Institution, p. 72. Report of 

 Mexican Boundary Commission. 



Char. Head small ; the two middle of the four posterior frontals much broader in front than 

 behind ; yellow above ; a narrow black band between the orbits ; occipital plates marke withd 

 black ; a narrow oblique band of black passing from the posterior margin of the orbit to the 

 angle of the jaw ; body yellowish, with about fifty distinct subquadrate black spots ; emarginate 

 in front and posteriorily ; emarginations less distinct toward tail ; interspaces between these 

 large spots presenting smaller ones, forming a continuous row on each side of the back ; about 

 sixteen transverse black spots upon the tail ; intermediate spaces yellowish ; chin and throat 

 straw color ; the lateral extremities of many of the scuta with black spots ; thirty rows of 

 scales ; those upon the back small, and distinctly carinated ; the four or five inferior rows on 

 each side much larger than the others, and smooth ; tail short. 



Dimensions. Length of head 8 lines ; greatest breadth 5 lines ; length of body 1 foot ; of tail 

 2 inches 3 lines ; total length 1 foot 2 inches 11 lines ; circumference 14 lines. 



Gen. Obs. Abundant in California ; grows to a much larger size. The specimen in the mu- 

 seum of the Academy came from the mines, in the vicity of the Cosumnes river ; one specimen 

 was found under a log, and Dr. Heermann found several basking in the sun during the middle 

 of the day, on the banks of streams, in sandy and gravelly places. 



L4MPR0S0MA. 



Char. — Head small ; snout rounded ; internasals somewhat smaller than prefrontals ; frontal 

 short and broad ; nostril in a single plate ; a long and narrow frenal ; one antocular, two posto- 

 culars ; body long and slender^ depressed ; scales smooth, quadrangular, brilliant ; tail short, 

 obtuse ; subcaudal scutes bifid ; teeth of equal length, posterior ones not channelled. 



LAMPROSOMA OCCIPITALE, Nob. 



Syn. — Bliinostoma occipifale. Proceed. Acad. N. S., vol. vii, 1854, p. 95. 



Description. — Head small, of same breadth posteriorly as neck, depressed in front ; snout 

 rounded ; rostral plate large, excavated below, presenting a triangular shape above and in front 

 ■where it forms the extremity of the muzzle ; internasals smaller than the prefrontals, their 

 inner margins much shorter than their external, which are in contact with the upper margins 

 of the nasal plates ; the prefrontals are more or less pentangular in shape, the posterior margin 

 of each in contact with the anterior margin of the antocular, the supraocular, and the half of 

 the frontal plate, its external margin with the upper margin of the frenal ; the frontal plate is 

 about as broad as long, narrower posteriorly, but less so than in Simotes coccineus ; supraoculars 

 broader posteriorly ; occipitals of moderate size, pentangular ; nostril large, deeply excavated, 

 in nearly the centre of a large and conspicuous nasal plate, somewhat pyriform ; a long and 

 very narrow frenal, lying between the second and third supralabials, and the prefrontal ; but 

 one preocular, which is quadrangular, resting on the third supralabial ; two postoculars, the 

 upper much larger than the lower ; there are seven supralabials, the three anterior smaller 

 considerably than those which follow ; the eye in contact inferiorly with the third and fourth ; 

 body long and slender, depressed ; scales, of whicli there are fifteen rows, quadrangular, smooth 



