10. TKOPIDONOTITS. 241 



faintly keeled. Ventrals 156-173 ; anal divided ; subcaudals 45- 

 65. Olive-brown above, uniform or with a lighter black-edged 

 vertebral stripe ; a broad yellowish or pale olive, black-edged stripe 

 along the three outer rows of scales ; upper lip and lower parts 

 yellowish, with or without a median black line or series of spots 

 along the belly and tail. 



Total length 880 millim. ; tail 130. 



North America, from Wisconsin and Michigan to Louisiana and 

 Texas ; North Mexico. 



a. Yg. (Sc. 19 ; V. 157 ; C. 55). New Orleans. 



b. $ (Sc. 21 ; V. 158 ; C. 52). N. America. 



c. 2 (Sc. 19 ; V. 163 ; C. 45). Mexico. 

 d^. ? (Sc. 21; V. 168, 153; ? 



C. 53, 63). 



43. Tropidonotus ferox. 



Coluber mortuarius {non Daud), KuJil, Bcitr. p. 96 (1820). 

 Tropidonotus mortuarius, Schleq. Phi/s. Serp. ii. p. 330 (1837) ; Cope, 



Froc. Ac. Philad. 18(38, p. 309. 

 ferox, Giinth. Ann. ^- Mag. N. H. (3) xii. 1863, p. 355, pi. vi. 



fig. F, and (4) ix. 1872, p. 27 ; F. Miill. Verh. nat. Ges. Basel, 



vii. 1885, p. 682. 

 Helicops mortuarius, Jan, Arch. Zool. Anat. Phys, iii. 1865, p. 246, 



and Icon. Gen. 28, pi. i. fig. 2 (1868). 



Eye rather small. Eostral twice as broad as deep, just visible 

 from above; nasal semidivided; internasals much naiTOwed in 

 front, with concave outer border, as long as or longer than the 

 prsefrontals ; frontal once and one third to once and a half as long 

 as broad, as long as its distance from the eud of the snout, shorter 

 than the parietals ; lorcal as long as deep or deeper ; one or two 

 prse- and two postoculars ; two to four suboculars, separating the 

 eye from the labials; temporals l-f2; nine upper labials; five 

 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are 

 shorter than the posterior. Scales very strongly keeled, in 21 to 27 

 rows. Yentrals 137-155 ; anal divided ; subcaudals 60-73. Dark 

 olive or reddish brown above, with or without black transverse 

 spots : belly yellowish or bright orange, usually with a lateral series 

 of black spots ; the ventral shields may bo partly or entirely edged 

 with black. 



Total length 750 millim. ; tail 175. 



West Africa. 



A. Scales in 21 rows. 



a. 6 (V. 147; C. 73). Fernando Po. (Type.) 



B. Scales in 23 rows. 



6. Hgr.c?(V.139;C.70). Adjah Bippo, Wassau, G. A. Higlett, Esq. 



Odd Coast. [P.]. 



c-e. d (V. 1£5; C. 08), Freetown, Sierra Leone. R. Dinzey, Esq. rc.l. 



$ (V. 151; C. 05),& 



yg. (V. 160 ; C. 66). 



YOL. I, B 



