North amkrican batrachia and rkptilia. 29 



plates; posterior wall of ])it formed by anteorbital ; general 

 color hazel-browu, brightest on top of head ; on sides 15-26 

 dark blotches, somewhat resembling an inverted Y ; sides of 

 head yellowish-white; chin and throat unspotted; beneath dull 

 yellowish, with a series of 35-45 large dark blotches on each 

 side; dorsal rows 22-23; G. 150-155. Eastern and Austroripa- 

 rian regions. 



Family ELAPID^. 

 Genus Elaps, Schu. 



Body slender; tail short; head somewhat depressed, gen- 

 erall}^ continuous with body; scales smooth; anal entire; sub- 

 caudal bitid; nasals two; loral none; anteorbital one; post- £te 

 orbitalsjwo. 



8. E. fulvkis^ subsp. falvins^ Linn. Harlequin Snake. 

 Head black anteriorly with a yellow ring across the occipital 

 region; body annulated with alternating red and black rings, 1-1- 

 10 of each, which are separated froni one another by a narrow 

 band of yellow; the black rings covering about eight scales, the 

 red six, and the yellow one or two; tail with alternate rings of 

 black and yellow; colors beneath the same, but duller; the red 

 spaces spotted with black ; dorsal rows 15 ; G. 205-210. Aus- 

 troriparian region. 



9. S. distans^ Kenn. Body slender; annulated with alter- 

 nating black and reddish rings, which are not separated by 

 lighter ones; the black rings are narrow on the body, four or 

 live scales wide, and are broad upon the tail, about eight scales 

 wide; the plain, unspotted, reddish rings of the back, three or 

 four times as wide as the black ones; on the tail, only a third 

 or fourth as wide; dorsal scales small. Florida. 



Family COLUBRID^. 

 Artificial Synopsis of Genera. 



A. Dorsal scales smooth ; anal divided. 

 a. Nasals one. 



1. Prefrontal one 6. Farancia. 



2. Prefrontals two or none. 

 X. Anteorbital absent. 



f Postorbital one ; unicolor 1. CarpJiophiops. 



:{:Postorbitals two; striped 5. Abastor. 



