Reptiles and Amphibians of Illinois. 279 



Storeria. dekai/i, Ed. and Gir., Oat. N. A. iiept., Pt. I., 1858, p. 

 135.— Kenn., Trans. 111. State Agr. Soc, 1853-54. p. 592. 



Ischnognathiis de/iayi, Dum et Bibr.,Erp. Gen., VII., 1854, p. 507. 



f^torerla deliayi, Davis and Rice, Bull. III. State Lab. Nat. Hist., 

 I., No. 5, 1883, p. 40; Bull. Chicago Acad. Sci., 1883.— S. Gar- 

 man, Mem. Mus. Corap. Zool., 1883, pp. 31, 143, pi. 1, fig. 1. 



Small. Body tapering to both extremities. Head small, 

 but clearly marked off by the slender neck. Tail short. Ros- 

 tral excavated below, its anterior face convex. Frontal hexag- 

 onal, vpide. Two nasals. One large anteorbital. Two post- 

 orbitals, sometimes one. Seven small infralabials, the fourth 

 and fifth much the largest. Seventeen dorsal rows of scales, 

 the outer row of each side widest. Ventrals about 120-128. 

 Anal divided. Subcaudals about 48-60. 



From ash-gray to chestnut-brown above, with a pale dorsal 

 stripe, on each side of which is a series of brown spots; the 

 latter may encroach upon the median stripe, and occasionally 

 unite across the middle line; sometimes they are wanting. 

 Beneath pale gray, with one or two small black specks near 

 the outer margins of each ventral scute, flead brown above, 

 with a faint iridescence. On each side of the neck, at the base 

 of the head, is an obliquely-placed black or brown bar, the two 

 occasionally meeting above. Smaller black bars across the tem- 

 porals and superior labials of each side extend to or slightly be- 

 yond the angle of the mouth. Posterior margins of the third 

 and fourth supralabials black. Infralabials pale, or touched with 

 black at the margins. 



Total length, 12.75; tail, 2.50. 



Occurs in all parts of the State, but is not very common. 

 Englewood, Chicago, Piano, Peoria (Brendel), Kappa, Normal, 

 Belleville and Mt. Carmel (Nat. Mus.). 



Hydrops, Waaler. 



Wagler, Syst. Amph., 1830, p. 170. 



S. Garman, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., 1883, p. 34. 



Scales smooth and shicing, in from fifteen to twenty-one 

 rows. Anal plate divided. Rostral normal. One or two inter- 

 nasals. Two prefrontals. One or two nasals. A large elongate 

 loreal, with the prefrontal forming the anterior rim of the orbit. 

 5 



