MEXICAN HERPETOLOGICAL MISCELLANY—SMITH 385 
Tagnosis.—V ertebral scales 3 to 4 times as broad as adjacent scales; 
dorsal spots on body 81 to 40; no V-shaped light mark bifurcating 
on posterior part of parietals, the arms reaching toward posterior 
corner of eyes; bands rarely broken on sides of body posteriorly. 
Range.—Mexico north to central Veracruz, southern Chiapas, at 
least parts of Guatemala. 
_ Specimens examined.—Twenty-two. 
) Remarks.—This form is easily distinguished from Central and South 
American cenchoa, and perhaps does not even intergrade with them. 
| The differences are of a type that could conceivably show intergra- 
) dation, however, and furthermore all are members of a very definite. 
ape! morphologic group characterized by having the vertebrals 
three times as wide as adjacent scales, or wider, and usually two labials 
entering orbit."* 
_ Jt appears that 3 forms are distinct: leucomelas, with 30 to 40 
bands on body, bands not or rarely broken on see of body pos- 
teriorly, no V-shaped light mark bifurcating on posterior part of 
frontal and extending toward posteromedial border of orbit; seznz- 
| fasciatus, with 40 or more bands on body, bands broken on posterior 
part of body and consisting of a small lateral spot widely separated 
from a large spot restricted to dorsal area, and head markings as in 
leucomelas, and typical cenchoa, with 39 or more bands on body, bands 
not or rarely broken on sides of body posteriorly, and a V-shaped 
light mark bifurcating on posterior part of parietal, usually reach- 
ing posteromedial border of orbit. The subspecies seméfasciatus oc- 
curs from Nicaragua to Panama, and cenchoa from Panama to South 
America. I have seen no specimens of this morphologic group from 
Honduras, and cannot say which form occurs there. North of Hon- 
duras all specimens examined are typical and undoubted leucomelas, 
while south of Honduras all are seméfasciatus or cenchoa. 
IMANTODES GEMMISTRATUS Cope 
Himantodes gemmistratus Corr, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1860, p. 264 
(Izaleco, Salvador). 
_ Himantodes cenchoa elegans JAN and Sorpewwt, Icon. Gén., livr. 38, pl. 2, fig. 1, 
1871 (Central America). 
_Dipsas cenchoa reticulata MULurer, Verh. Naturf. Ges. Basel, vol. 7, p. 151, 1882 
(Guatemala). 
_Leptognathus stratissima Corr, Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., vol. 23, p. 280, 1886 
(Panama). 
143In a letter Dr E. R. Dunn tells me that “of 291 cenchoa from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, 
and Panama, only 16 have more than two labials in orbit. Of 188 elegans eight have 
less than three labials in orbit.” The proportion is higher in Mexican leuwcomelas, how- 
ever, making impossible the use of this character in keys: three labials enter orbit on one 
or both sides in 8 out of 18 specimens. 
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