Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology 3 



Pattern of body composed of 18 dorsal saddles of red, bordered 

 with black, separated by whitish areas, and extending upon the 

 ends of the ventral plates; 4 additional saddles of red on the tail. 

 The dorsal saddles are from five to eight scales in length above, 

 narrowing to two to four scales on the first row. The black borders 

 are one and one-half to two scales wide on the mid-dorsal line and 

 one-half to one scale on the first row. The whitish cross-bands are 

 about one and one-half scales wide above, widening suddenly on 

 the lower rows to four or five scales on the first row. On the belly, 

 opposite each dorsal whitish cross-band, is a large squarish blotch of 

 black. 



On the head a black band, 2 mm. in width, crosses the 

 posterior portions of the parietal plates, leaving their tips 

 whitish, and ending on the seventh upper labials. The frontal 

 and temporals are mostly black, the rest of the head mostly 

 light, probably red in life. The chin and throat are immaculate 

 whitish. % 



Remarks: So few specimens of this form are known that no 

 general description can be drawn up. It is by no means certain 

 that all the specimens here referred to virginiana are conspecific 

 with the type. 



The other specimen from Raleigh (U.S.N.M., No. 56197) is 

 almost identical with the type in structural features, but the red 

 saddles extend farther upon the belly. Anteriorly their black 

 borders are separated by only a narrow mid- ventral strip of whitish, 

 while posteriorly they meet below. The specimen from Cusco- 

 willa, Virginia (U.S.N.M., No. 26181), is a juvenile closely similar 

 to the two preceding in scutellation and nearly like the last in 

 pattern, but there is a tendency to develop black pigment on the 

 fore part of the belly between the ends of the red saddles. This 

 tendency becomes more and more pronounced posteriorly, develop- 

 ing also opposite the whitish dorsal cross-bands, so that the latter 

 half of the belly is nearly all black. 



