182 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



posterior equal to or smaller than anterior. Scales on 

 body smooth, thin, in seventeen rows. Anal plate 

 divided. Gastrosteges varying in number from one 

 hundred and seventy-four to two hundred and six. 

 Urosteges in two series of from seventy-four to one 

 hundred and eight. 



The upper surface of the head is grayish or yellowish 

 brown, without dark or light markings. The ground 

 color of the body is drab, yellow, light brown, or plum- 

 beous, with one or two narrow black, 

 slate, brown, or olive longitudinal 

 bands. These bands fade out on the 

 tail, and may extend on to the sides 

 of the head. Sometimes they widen 

 and merge; in other specimens the 

 upper band is partially broken up into spots; while in 

 one the bands are ''represented by blackish shades at 

 the bases of the scales." The upper lip and all the 

 lower surfaces are yellow or yellowish white, the tail 

 and posterior part of the body sometimes with an orange 

 or reddish cast. 



Length to anus 235 258 340 652 695 850 



Length of tail 63 60 98 215 189 290 



Distribution. — In California, the Patched-nosed Snake 

 probably ranges over most of the desert area. It has 

 been found at Valle de la Viejas, San Diego County, 

 San Jacinto, Riverside County, at Lytle Creek and near 

 San Bernardino, San Bernardino County, and in Inyo 

 County at the Amargosa Borax Works and in the 

 Argus Range, California. It has, been collected in 

 Nevada at St. Thomas and the Virgin River near 

 Bunkerville. 



