96 NEW SNAKES FROM CALIFORNIA— STEJNEGER. 



to be quite different from the species hitherto described, and I propose 

 to call it * Lichanura orcutti. 



Lichaimra orcutti sp. nov. 



Diagnosis.— Scales in 33 to 35 rows ; eye encircled by 9 or 10 scales ; 

 lorealst 4; labials |f; gasterosteges 232; anal entire; urosteges 45, 

 entire. 



Hab. — Colorado Desert, San Diego County, California. 



Type. — U. S. National Museum, No. 15503; C. R. Orcutt coll., April, 

 1889. 



Description of type specimen. — Rostral plate very prominent, recurved, 

 pentagonal, its nasal border twice as long as its labial; eye surrounded 

 by a ring of scales of nearly equal size, 10 on the right side, but only 

 9 on the left; between the posterior nasal and the middle preocihir 

 two large loreal scales, and under the posterior one, wedged in between 

 it, the middle and lower prefrontals, and fourth, fifth, and sixth supra- 

 labials, a somewhat smaller subloreal ; over the posterior loreal a super- 

 loreal of medium size; nasal divided, the anterior plate meeting the 

 one of the other side ; back of these a pair of rather large anterior pre- 

 frontals followed by four smaller posterior prefrontals, or what cor- 

 responds to these plates where a frontal exists, the outer ones being 

 larger than those in the middle ; posterior to these the head is covered 

 with numerous rather irregular scales ; supralabials 13, the first four 

 highest; iufralabials 15, gradually diminishing in height from the pair 

 joining the triangular mental; mental fissure separating four pairs of 

 scales ; scales of body smooth, in 33 to 35 longitudinal rows, the inferior 

 on each side slightly larger than the rest; gasterosteges narrow. 232; 

 anal small, entire; tail short, blunt; urosteges 45, entire. 



Fig. 1. — Lichanura orcutti. 



Dimensions. — Total length, S70 mm ; length of tail from anus, 110 mm ; 

 diameter of eye, 3 mm ; from tip of muzzle to anterior border of eye, ll ml " ; 

 proportion of last two measurements^: 3.7. 



Coloration. — Ground color light bluish gray, with a light brownish 

 wash on the upper surface; three longitudinal ill defined, zigzag bauds 

 of a pale raw umber brown runniug the whole length of the body, the 



*The diagnosis, reprinted from advance sheets of tlie present article, is published 

 in the "West American Scientist." 



t By loreals are here meant all the scales situated between the posterior nasals, 

 the supralabials, the preorbitals, and the scales corresponding to the prefrontals, 

 without reference to their origin ; in the preseut case I think there are only two 

 loreals proper, while the subloreal is only a detached portion of the fifth supralabials, 

 and the supraloreal a part of the prefrontals. 



