192 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



Habitat. — Indiana, southern Illinois, Missouri, Arkan- 

 sas, Louisiana, and Texas. Missouri localities : — St. Louis 

 and Jefferson Counties. In Illinois, St. Clair County. 



Habits. — Virginians Snake is seldom found in Missouri, 

 but this may be due to its secretive habits. All I have 

 found were under rocks. Once I caught one sliding over 

 a narrow path in heavy timbered bottom lands. 



Dates of capture. — April 4 ; May 4, 13 ; September 6. 

 Genus farancia. 



Maxillary teeth smooth, subequal. One internasal. One nasal, half 

 divided. One loral. No anteorbitals. The loral and postfrontal en- 

 tering into the orbit. Two postorbitals. Scales smooth, without pits, 

 in 19 rows. Anal plate divided. Size large. 



76. Farancia abacura Holbrook. Hoop Snake. Horn 

 Snake. Sting Snake. 



Farancia fasciata, Farancia drummondi. Hydrops abacurus, Hydrops 

 reinwardtii, Helicops abacurus, Calopisma abacurum, Calopisma 

 reinwardtii, Homalopsis reinwardtii, Coluber fasciatus, Coluber 

 ovivorus, La Couleuvre ovivore, Vtpera aquatica. 



Description. — Rostral wider than deep. One internasal, two prefron- 

 tals, reaching down to the orbit. Frontal large, elongate, being one and 

 a half times as long as wide, longer than its distance from the end of 

 the snout, shorter than the parietals, which are very large. Supercil- 

 iaries proportionately small. One nasal, grooved below the nostril. 

 One loral, which, with the prefrontal, forms the anterior border of 

 the orbit. Two postorbitals, lower one much smaller. Temporals 1-2. 

 Upper labials seven, third and fourth entering the orbit, fifth and 

 sixth the largest. Lower labials eight, fifth the largest, four in con- 

 tact with the anterior chin shields, which are a little longer than the 

 posterior. Head small, not distinct from the body. Tail short, main- 

 taining its diameter well towards the tip, then tapering suddenly, 

 ending with a conical nail or horn. All the dorsal scales are smooth, 

 in 19 rows, the outer row wider than long. Ventrals 168-206, the one 

 preceding the anal divided. Anal divided. Subcaudals 34-49 pairs. 



Color. — Above shining bluish black. Sides and belly red, with trans- 

 verse, complete or broken, bluish black bands, which are continuous 

 at the sides with downward extensions of the black of the dorsal sur- 

 face. The red of the ventral surface extends upward on the sides 

 between the black bars to the third or fourth row of dorsal scales. 



