68 SYNOPSES AND DESCRIPTIONS, 
rings are completely divided, those on the following third of the body 
being divided by red on the sides; the remaining annuli black, three 
scales wide; white annuli one and one half scales; anterior or nuchal red 
annulus widest, its anterior black margin attaining the parietals. An 
ochraceous band from the yular region, not quite completed, across the 
parietals. Muzzle, prefrontals, and labial margin ochraceous, remainder 
of top and sides of head black, Total length 30.5 inches. (rom descr.) 
Sonora, 
OPHIBOLUS GETULUS, pl. V, fig. 3. 
Couvper GETutus Linné, 1766, Syst. Nat. ed. XII, 382. 
ero 
Opnisotus GETuLUs Baird & Girard, 1853, Cat. N. A. Serp., 85. 
Stout, subcylindrical, slightly compressed, belly broad, rounded; neck 
large; head not very distinct, depressed, narrow in front; tail short, less 
than one sixth of total, tapering to a point. Eyes medium, over the 
third and fourth labials, pupil round. Mouth-cleft deep, outline curved. 
Crown-shields nine, broad. Frontal broader anteriorly. Rostral low, 
broader than high, convex. Nasal in two parts, nostril between. Loreal 
small. One large preocular. Postoculars two. Temporals 2+3. Labials 
seven, increasing in size to the sixth. Infralabials nine, fifth largest. 
Submentals two pairs. Scales rhomboid, smooth, in 21 rows (21—23), 
outer broad. Ventrals 210—225 (with the varieties 210—240). Anal 
entire. Subcaudals 48—55 pairs (48—65). 
Lustrous brown to black, exceedingly variable. Back crossed by 25 to 
35 narrow yellow bands, which bifurcate on the flanks to meet short longi- 
tudinal bars on the outer rows with which they form more or less complete 
unions to the bands immediately preceding or following, thus inclosing 
large spaces of black on the dorsal rows. Belly uniform black, black with 
yellow markings, yellow with quadrangular blotches of black, or nearly to 
quite uniform yellow. Head spotted with yellow, vertical margins of black, 
Some specimens are more yellow than black, others have very little yellow. 
Southeastern United States. 
var. sAYI, pl. V, fig. 4. 
Yellow bands more numerous, sometimes indistinct. All or nearly all 
of the scales yellow in the center. Rows of scales commonly 21. Mis- 
sissippi Valley and Southwestward. 
