166 COLUBRJD.B. ' 



from above ; nasals sometimes entire or semi divided ; iuternasuls 

 nearly as long as broad, as long as the praet'rontals ; frontal narrow, 

 nearly twice as long as broad, with concave sides, slightly longer 

 than its distance from the end of the snout, as long as the parietal* ; 

 loreal a little longer than deep ; one or two prae- and two post- 

 oculars ; temporals 1 + 2; eight upjRT labials, fourth and fifth 

 entering the eye ; five lower labials in contact with the anterior 

 chin-shields, which are as long as or a little longer than the 

 posterior. Scales in 19 rows. Vent rals 180-198 ; anal divided ; 

 subcaudals 75-92. Length of tail 4 to 4 times in the total length. 

 Pale buff above, with two alternating series of large black spots ; 

 a broad black stripe from the eye to the side of the neck ; upper lip, 

 two or three outer rows of scales, and lower surface white. 



Total length 740 miUim. ; tail 170. 



"Western Argentina. 



a-b. d (V. 198 ; C. 86) & Mendoza. 



$ (V. 193 ; C. 75). 

 c-f. <3 (V. 196, 197, 186 ; Tucuman. 



C. 86, 92, 82) & yg. 



(V. 187; C. 76). 



7. Rhadinaea cobella. 



Coluber cobella, Linn. Mus. Ad. Frid. p. 24 (1754), and S. N. i. 



p. 378 (1760) ; Merr. Beitr. i. p. 16, pi. iv., and ii. p. 8:?, pi. viii. 



(1790). 



Elaps cobella, Schneid. Hist. Amph. ii. p. 296 (1801). 

 Coluber cenchrus, Daud. Rept. vii. p. 139 (103). 



serpentinus, part., Daud. 1. c. p. 87. 



Coronella cobella, Schley. Phys. tierp. ii. p. 63, pi. i. figs. 4 & 5 



(1837). 

 Liophis cobella, Dum. $ Bibr. vii. p. 098 (1854) ; Giinth. Cat. p. 43 



(1858) ; Jan, Icon. G6n, 16, pi. v. fig. 1 (1866). 

 Ophiomorphus cobella, Cope, Proc. Ac. Philad. 1862, p. 75. 

 Liophis taeniogaster, Jan, Arch. Zool. Anat. Phys. ii. 18C-3, p. 292,. 



and Icon. Cftn. 18, pi. i. (1866). 



Eye rather small. Rostral broader than deep, visible from above ; 

 internasals as long as broad or a little broader, as long as or a 

 little shorter than the prafrontals ; frontal once and a half to once 

 and three fourths as long as broad, as long as or slightly longer than 

 its distance from the end of the snout, a little shorter than the 

 parietals ; loreal as long as deep or deeper than long ; one prie- and 

 two postoculars ; temporals 1+2; eight upper labials, fourth and 

 fifth entering the eye ; five lower labials in contact with the anterior 

 chin-shields, which are as long as or a little longer than the 

 posterior. Scales in 17 rows. Ventrals 143-163 ; aual divided ; 

 subcaudals 45-57. Length of tail 4| to 6 times in the total 

 length. Brown or blackish above, with whitish lines or cross bands : 

 belly yellowish (coral-red in life) with transverse black spots 

 or cross bands, always more or less marked in the young, which 

 have a blackish nuchal collar edged behind with whitish, and a 



