162 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The body is rather stout for so small a snake, with 

 short, tapering tail, and slight constriction at neck. 

 The head is flat-topped, with broad, rounded snout. Its 

 plates are normal, except that the anterior and posterior 

 nasals usually unite above, or both above and below, the 

 nostril. Usually one preocular and two postoculars are 

 present. Temporals are 1-2. There is one loreal. The 

 scales are smooth, in fifteen or seventeen rows, each 

 with one apical pit. The anal plate is divided, and the 

 urosteges are in two series. The eye is small, with 

 round pupil. 

 49. — Contia mitis Baird & Girard. Sharp-tailed Snake. 



Contia miiis, B. &G., Cat. N. A. Kept., I, Serpents, 1853, p. 110 



(type locality San Jose, Calif.); Yarrow, Bull. U. S. Nat. 



Mus., No. 24, 1883, p. 87; Boulenger, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mns., 



II, 1894, p. -267. 

 ? Lodia tenuis, B. & G., Cat. N. A. Kept., Pt. I, Serp., 185.3, p. 116 



(type locality Puget Sound, Or.); Gibard, U. S. Explor. Exped., 



Herp., 1858, p. 122, pi. IX, figs. 8-11; Cope, Proc. U. S. Nat. 



Mus., XIV, 1891, p. 602. 

 Ablabes purpureocauda, Gunther, Cat. Colub. Snakes, Brit. Mus., 



1858, p. 245 (type locality California). 



Description. — Head wide, with flattened top and broad, 

 rounded snout. Rostral plate large, high, hollowed 

 below, and bounded behind by internasal, nasal, and 

 first labial plates. Plates on top of head, a pair of in- 



ternasals, a pair of 

 prefrontals, a frontal 

 broad in front but 

 pointed behind, a 

 long supraocular on 

 each side, and a pair 

 of large parietals. Anterior and posterior nasal plates 

 frequently united above, or both above and below, 

 nostril. Loreal small and nearly square. Normally one 

 preocular, but two sometimes present. Postoculars two, 



