330 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [Proc. 4th Ser. 



possible only by the large number of specimens secured. The 

 collection included ninety-eight snakes from these islands, and 

 I have also had the privilege of examining eight in the Stan- 

 ford University collection, making, in all, one hundred and six 

 specimens, distributed as follows: 



Hood 36 



Indefatigable 24 



Barrington 15 



James 8 



Narborough , 7 



South Seymour 5 



Jervis 4 



Brattle 2 



Gardner-near-Hood 



Gardner-near-Charles 



Duncan 



Cowley. Mt., Albemarle 



Cape Berkeley, Albemarle 



Although this material seems large, it is quite inadequate 

 for the final settlement of many of the questions which present 

 themselves. The series from Hood is the only one that really 

 is satisfactory. The Indefatigable series might at first seem 

 so, but one of the species found on that island is represented 

 only by a single specimen; and the twenty-three examples of 

 the other species are not enough to furnish a satisfactory 

 explanation of the presence of both spotted and striped styles 

 of coloration. The numbers secured on the other islands are, 

 of course, still less satisfactory, especially when one recalls 

 that we have two distinct species from several of the islands. 



It is probable, too, that larger series from many of the 

 islands would enable us to recognize specific or subspecific 

 differences which are now hidden by individual variation. 

 Thus, the snakes which I am forced to group together as 

 Dromicus slevini may very well represent at least two different 

 races. Similarly, the snakes of James and Jervis may be found 

 to differ from those of Barrington and Indefatigable, as is 

 pointed out under the head of Dromicus dorsalis, and those 

 of Brattle possibly will be found to be not identical with those 

 of northern Albemarle. The solution of these problems, how- 



