54 SYNOPSES AND DESCRIPTIONS. 
ELAPHIS OBSOLETUS, pl. IV., fig. 2. 
CoLuBer oBsoLetus Say, 1823, James’ Acct. of Long's Exp. I, 140. 
Long, slender, tapering to head and tail, compressed; belly flat, angled 
at the edges; neck small; head large, broad behind, narrow in front of 
the eyes, depressed, with flat crown; tail short, near one fifth of the total, 
slender. Eye moderately large, over the fourth and fifth labials, pupil 
round. Mouth-cleft deep, curved. Head-shields nine, broad. Frontal 
broad anteriorly. Prefrontals bent down on the side of the face. Snout 
prominent. Rostral large, a little broader than high, convex. Nasal in 
two parts, nostril between. Loreal low. One large anteorbital. Post- 
orbitals two. Temporals 2+3. Labials eight, seventh largest. Infra- 
labials twelve, sixth largest. Submentals two pairs, the hinder separated 
by small scales. Scales lozenge-shaped, extremity rounded, in 27 rows, 
two or more of the outer smooth, medial keeled, those on the flanks more 
faintly. Ventrals about 233. Anal entire. Subcaudals about 85 pairs. 
Light greyish-brown, reddish in life, varying to black. In light colored 
specimens of small size there is a dorsal series of about forty large spots, 
with darker edges, separated by narrow spaces of light color. On the 
flank three series of alternating spots, the spots in each half as large 
as the next above. On the extremities of the abdominals a series of twice 
as many quadrate spots. On each side of the median line of the belly a 
series of quadrangular blotches. In large specimens only the upper and 
lower of the series on the flank can be distinguished. A dark-edged band 
across the postfrontals, through the eye, over the angle of the mouth. <A 
pair of diverging bands from the parietals to the neck. Anterior spots 
more or less confluent. Darkening with age until nearly or quite black. 
Kast of the Rocky Mountains. 
var. ALLEGHANIENSIS. 
Dark brown to lustrous black, mottled with white under the throat. 
Series of scales 27. Alleghany region and eastward. 
var. LINDHEIMERII. 
Dark plumbeous, with brown or black blotches on back and flanks. 
Series of scales 29. Texas. 
Through its varieties this species is so closely related to the following 
that the separation is a matter of considerable difficulty. It is quite 
a 
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