26 



Genus STOREPJA, Baird & Girard. 



Gen. Char. Head subelliptical, distinct from the body. Cephalic plates 

 normal. Loral plate absent. Orbitals, two posterior, one or two ante- 

 rior. Nasals two, rather large. Body small, scarcely exceeding a foot in 

 length, subcylindrical : tail comparatively short, tapering. Dorsal scales 

 15-17 rows, all earinated. Abdominal scutella) 120 - 140 ; posterior 

 one bifid : subcaudal, all divided, from 41 to 51 in number. Color 

 brown, with two dorsal dotted lines. 



Stn. Storeria, B. & G. 1. c. 1853, 135. 



16. Storeria dekati, B. «|' G. — Spotted-snake. 



Spec. Char. One anterior and two posterior orbitals. Dorsal rows 17. Gray or 

 chestnut -brown above, with a clay-colored dorsal band margined by dotted 

 lines. A dark patch on each side of the occipital : a dark bar between this and 

 the eye, iind tAvo below the orbit. 128+1, 47, 17, 13, 2f (New-York). 



SYNONYMS. 



Tropidonotics dekayi, IIolbe. N. Amer. Heip. III. 1842, 53, pi. xiv. — Dekay, 



N.Y. Fauna, Kept, 1842, 46, pi. xiv. f. 30. 

 Tropidonotus ordinatus, Stoker, Rep. Kept. Mass. 1839, 223. 

 Storeria dekayi, B. h G. 1. c. 1853, 135. 



This snake is exceedingly abundant in the Northern States, ranging from 

 Maine to Wisconsin, and south to Florida and Texas. Indeed no other species 

 has a more extended distribution. It is everywhere associated with the S. 

 occijnto-maculata. In New- York, it is very abundant along the shores of 

 Lake Champlain. 



17. Storeria occipito-maculata, B. c|- G. 



Spec Char. Orbitals, two anterior ,^two posterior. Dorsal scales in 15 rows. Above 

 gray or chestnut-brown, sometimes with a paler vertebral line : beneath red, or 

 salmon-color. Three distinct light-colored spots behind the head, and a smaller 

 one on the fourth or fifth upper labial. 124-1-1, 43, 15, 9], IJ (New-York). 



