I 
(o6) 
SYNOPSES AND DESCRIPTIONS. 
CremopHora coccinEa, pl. VI, fig. 1. 
CoLuser coccryeus Blum., 1788, Licht. & Voigt., Mag., V. 
Rather small. Long, slender, subeylindrical; head little larger than the 
neck, subconical, snout turned upward, with prominent rostral, but not 
compressed into a sharp edge as in /Heterodon. ‘Tail short, near one sev- 
enth of the total, tapering to a point. Eyes small, pupil round. Mouth- 
cleft not very deep, somewhat curved. Posterior maxillary teeth larger. 
Crown-shields normal. Frontal broad, hexagonal. Supraciliaries very 
small. Prefrontals broader than long. Rostral swollen, extending back 
between the internasals. Nasal entire, sometimes grooved or half divided, 
oceasionally divided. A small loreal. Oculars 1—2, lower smaller. Tem- 
porals 1+2. Labials six, second commonly entering the orbit, third be- 
neath the eye and postorbitals. (A specimen shows fusion of the second 
and third on one side, and the second, third, and fourth on the other.) 
Infralabials eight, fourth largest. Submentals one pair. Scales smooth, 
in 19 rows; dorsal lozenge-shaped, pointed, outer little broader. Ventrals 
broad, 157—174. Anal entire. Subcaudals 34 
Crimson in life, yellowish in alcohol; white below. Crossed by pairs of 
45 pairs. 
transverse bands of dark brown or black, each pair inclosing a narrow 
band of yellow. Sixteen to nineteen yellow bands on the body, four to 
five on the tail; they are limited on the outer rows by a series of spots of 
dark, which alternate with the dark bands. Black rings about equal to 
yellow, two or three scales. The red space between the black rings has a 
width about equal to that occupied by the pair and the included yellow. 
The red spaces are more or less completely inclosed by the union of the 
black bands beneath them into a ring. The first black band crosses the 
head, behind the eye, to the angle of the mouth; in front of this the head 
is red, yellowish on the snout, behind it on the occiput the first yellow 
band is followed by the second black. Southern States east of the Missis- 
sippl. 
var. COPEI. 
The specimen described and figured by Prof. Jan under this name has 
the red blotches on the back much shorter and more numerous than is 
usual in the species. It had thirty-two black rings on body and: tail. 
The loreal enters the orbit below the anteorbital. Tennessee. 
