330 FLORIDA REPTILES AND BATBACHIANS—L(ENNBEBG. vol. xvn. 



LIODYTES ALLENII (Garman). 



Ill a cyjiress swamp a few miles south of Kissimmee, Osceola Couiity, 

 I killed a big moccasin {Affl-istrodon jj?sc/vor?/,s'), and found in its 

 oesophagus a smaller snake which it had probably just swallowed. It 

 was well preserved, except in one place on the middle of the body, 

 where it had probably been bitten by its devourer. This is the only 

 specimen of Liodytes allenii that 1 have happened to find, and I sup- 

 pose it is scarce. It corresponds with the description given by Cope, 

 viz :* Color dark brown Avith two brownish-yellow stripes on each side; 

 below straw color; to which I can add a median row of blackish-brown 

 spots, one on each gastrostege and a median zigzag stripe of the same 

 color underneath the tail between the scutella. The single interuasal 

 and the five rows of keeled scales on the tail are very characteristic. 

 The fact that tlie scales on the tail are keeled, as well as the circum- 

 stances under which I found it, indicate that it is a water animal. 



Oculars 2-3 in my specimen, but in another in the Upsala Museum,t 

 caught by forest inspector Westerluud, probably at Oakland, Orange 

 County, the oculars are 1-3 (now No. 21388 U. S. :^T. M.). 



NATRIX COMPRESSICAUDA (K en n i cott). 



Wading through a mangrove swamp at Key West I met, one day, with 

 a blackish looking snake that came rapidly swimming through the 

 water. I caught it and have classified it as belonging to this species, 

 but the color is different from the "subspecies" Cope gives.J 



I will describe it, and if a name should be needed '■'■ohscura " is a good 

 and suitable one. Scales in twenty-one rows. The color of the back 

 is dark blackish gray, "soot color." On this ground the three series of 

 spots can scarcely be distinguished, except on the anterior part of the 

 body, where they form transverse bands; the head is too dark to show 

 any postocular bauds; upper and lower labials as well as mentals, with 

 yellowish spots; the ground color of the belly is gray, a little reddish. 

 On each side on the dorsal margin of the gastrosteges there is a small 

 light spot, a median black band extends from the first gastrosteges to 

 the tip of the tail. On the anterior part there is a yellowish spot on 

 each gastrostege in this black band and the thirty anterior spots cover 

 this band nearly completely, but further back they become smaller and 

 less distinct, disappearing on the tail. 



Two of Cope's subspecies have twenty-one rows of scales, viz, X. c. 

 compsokema and ^". c. eompressicanda. The former is very different from 

 this form, having "numerous dark crossbands, narrowed on the side; 

 three gular yellow bands; a postocular band." The latter has "three 

 rows of dorsal brown spots forming longitudinal bauds on neck; one 



'Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xiv, 1891, p. 666 (1892). 



t Since presented to the U. S. National Museum and catalogued as No. 21388. 



t Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xiv, 1891, p. 669 (1892). 



