Vol. VI. AUGUST, 1889. No. 46 



DIAGNOSIS OF A NEW SPECIES OF SNAKE 



{LICHANURA ORCUTTI), FROM SAN DIEGO 



COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, 



The snakes belong^ing to the superfamily, Boioideae or Pero- 

 poda, the " boiform " snakes characterized by the presence of 

 rudiments of posterior extremities, are represented in the North 

 American fauna by a few forms only. On the whole continent 

 north of Panama there are only known about fourteen species 

 belonging to seven genera, but of these only one species has 

 hitherto been recorded from the United States, viz : Charina 

 plumbea, B.and G>, which ranges from Sonora to British Colum- 

 bia. To this we may now add Lichanura myriolepis, Cope,which 

 occurs in the neighborhood of San Diego, and a new species of 

 the same genus, which I have named in honor of its discoverer, 

 Mr. C. R. Orcutt. A detailed description with figures and com- 

 parison with allied si)ecies will shortly appear in the " Proceed- 

 ings of the U. S. National Museum." The Assistant Secretary 

 of the Smithsonian Institution in charge of the museum, Professor 

 (i. Brown Goode, has kindly permitted the following reprint of 

 the diagnosis of this interesting species, copied from advanced 

 sheets of the " Proceedings:"" 



" Lichanura orcutti sp. nov. 



" Scales in 33 to 35 rows; eye encircled by 9 or 10 scales ; 

 " loreals 4; labials 13-15; gasterosteges 232; anal entire; uroS' 

 teges 45, entire. 



" Habitat: — Colorado Desert, San Diego county, California. 



"Type:— U.S. Nat. Mus. No. 15503; C. R. Orcutt coll., April, 

 "1889. 



"Rostral plate very prominent, recurved, pentagonal, its 

 ' ' nasal border twice as long as its labial. 



" Of the forms which compose this genus the present species 

 " appears to be the most highly differentiated, the most distinc- 

 " tive feature being the elongation of the snout, and the promin- 

 "ence and shape of the rostral." Leonhard Stejneger. 



Smithsonian Institution, ) 

 Washington, D. C, June 24, 1889. j 



