REPTILES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 177 



55. Tantilla eiseni Stejneger. California Tantilla. 



Tantilla nigriceps. Yarrow, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 24, 1883, p. 



85 (part). 

 Tantilla eiseni, Stejneger, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XVIII, 1896, p. 



117 (type locality Fresno, California). 



Description.'^ — "Head very flat above, rather broad 

 across the anterior temporals; eyes small; rostral wider 

 than high, the portion visible from above longer than 

 the internasal suture; internasals short; prefrontals 

 nearly twice as large as internasals, their lower border 

 wedged in between posterior nasal and preocular, but 

 not in contact with supralabials; frontal rather long, 

 six-sided, angular in front and behind, the lateral bor- 

 ders nearly parallel; supraoculars rather small, half as 

 wide as frontal; parietals long and narrow, nearly as 

 long as their distance from tip of snout; nasals long, 

 the posterior in contact with preocular, which is but 

 slightly shorter; no loreal; one preocular; two postocu- 

 lars; temporals long, 1 + 1; supralabials seven, last one 

 largest, third and fourth entering eye; sublabials [infra- 

 labials] seven, four in contact with first pair of chin 

 shields; first pair of sublabials not in contact behind 

 mental; fifteen rows of smooth scales; four rows of 

 scales between posterior chin shields and ventrals; ven- 

 trals 176 [167-181]; anal divided; subcaudals 62 + 1 

 [58-65]. 



"Color (in alcohol) uniform pale flesh color, slightly 

 darker grayish brown above; top of head, lores, temples, 

 and nape for a distance of three scale-lengths back of 

 the parietals, dark grayish-brown; behind this a narrow 

 white [transverse] band, one scale-length wide, bordered 

 behind by a few dark-brown dots. 



"Total length, 365; tail, 82 mm." 



*' Original description of Stejneger. 



