1894. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 325 



tried to bite, only one opened its moutli, bat tliey wind themselves 

 round one's arm, showing great muscular strength. When they get 

 alarmed they often rattle with the tij) of the tail, trying to scare the 

 enemy. 



1 have seen eggs laid by an L. f/etulus in captivity. They were rather 

 large, whitish and with soft skin. 



All my specimens were taken on dry land. 



OSCEOLA ELAP80IDEA (Holbrook). 



I have one specimen of this beautiful snake from Key West, and 

 another from the neighborhood of Toronto, Orange County. In both 

 there is on one side a small rudimentary loreal, but on the other side 

 the prefrontal extends to the upper labials. One who has seen both 

 Cemophora and Osceola can not well confound them afterwards. The 

 shape of the head is entirely different. Osceola deserves well the 

 cognomen "- elapsoidea.'''' The form of the head is very similar to that 

 of an Elaps, and so are the colors, black, red, and yellow, although 

 arranged differently. On the specimen from Toronto the seventeenth* 

 pair of black rings is situated over the anus and there are five 

 pairs on the tail, the last not complete. On the specimen from Key 

 West the sixteenth * i)air is situated over the anus. On the latter 

 specimen the black rings are broader and cover 4-5 scales, and in the 

 middle of the back they have a tendency to extend into the red spaces, 

 so that, for instance, the posterior one of the twelfth, thirteenth, and 

 fourteenth pairs extend through the red, meeting the anterior band of 

 the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth pair respectively. It is 

 remarkable that the yellow lings, although narrower, are never in- 

 truded upon. The fact that in Elaps fulvius the red, but never the 

 yellow, is very often dotted with black, forms an interesting parallel. 



DIADOI'HIS PUNCTATUS (Limi i«^ us). 



Having obtained this snake only once, not far from Apoi)ka, Orange 

 County, in April, 1893, 1 mu.st regard it as rather uncommon in that 

 part of the State. 



My specimen has two anterior and three posterior oculars instead of 

 2-2, but is otherwise typical as to scutellation and color. 



There are nine specimens of this species in the U. S. ISTational Museum 

 from Florida, included under the following catalogue numbers: No. 

 10585 from Clear Water, collected by S. T. Walker; and Nos. 11984, 

 13667, 13702, from Georgiana, by Wm. Wittfield. 



OPHEODRYS ^STIVUS (LiniiiHus). 



This beautiful and gentle little snake is to be found all over south 

 Florida down to Key West in '^ hammocks" and " scrubs." It is often 



*Iucludin<j that on the ueck. 



