67 13. COLUBRID 
Loreal well developed. Preoculars two or one. Postoculars 
two. Temporals normally two followed by two, sometimes 
1+2 or 2+3. Supralabials eight (rarely nine or seven), 
fourth and fifth reaching eye, seventh usually largest. In- 
ferior labials ten, (rarely nine or eleven), fifth usually 
largest, first pair meeting on median line. Genials in two 
pairs, posterior longer. Scales on body smooth, in 17 rows. 
Anal plate divided. Gastrosteges varying in number from 
195 to 211. Urosteges in two series of from 127 to 147. 
The color above, for about the anterior third of the 
body, is olive or bluish gray, becoming yellowish or grayish 
brown on the posterior two thirds of the body and on the 
tail. A few or many of the scales may be marked basally 
with white or yellow, especially on the anterior half of the 
body, and throughout the whole length many or almost all 
of the scales may have central dark markings in the form 
either of lines or spots. Along the third and fourth rows 
of lateral scales, anteriorly, is a very distinct and definite 
clear yellow or white stripe, edged with dark brown, and 
separated, by a stripe of the ground color, from a second, 
similar light stripe along the scales of the first and second 
rows. This lower light stripe sometimes is only partially 
marked off, by a dark line or row of spots, from the light 
color of the belly. All these stripes become obsolete and 
disappear on the posterior half of the body. The head is 
olive above, grayish posteriorly and brownish toward the 
snout, unmarked. The temporal region is grayish olive. 
The oculars, loreal, nasals, labials, and lower half of the 
rostral are yellow. A black line runs along the upper border 
of the supralabials and across the middle of the rostral. The 
nasals, loreal and oculars are margined with black. There 
is no yellow temporal spot. The lower surfaces are light 
yellow, unmarked. 
A female specimen in life had the upper surface of the 
