550 



CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



[Proc. 4th Ser. 



ocular blotch crosses the temporal region to the side of the neck. The 

 labials and lower surfaces of the head and throat are yellowish-gray 

 marbled with dark gray. There are no light longitudinal stripes on the 

 body. The color above shades from brownish olive along the middle of 

 the back to pale oHve gray near the gastrosteges. On the neck are large 

 round dark brown spots separated by Hght yellowish-gray blotches. On 

 the anterior part of the body these dark spots become smaller and more 

 numerous, and form three alternating rows on each side. These spots 

 become smaller and less numerous posteriorly, and are lacking on the tail. 

 They also tend to avoid the sixth and seventh rows of lateral scales. The 

 lower surfaces are yellowish mottled with brownish gray except on the 

 tail. Many of the tips of the gastrosteges bear not very definite small dark 

 brown spots, but there is no series of such spots on the lower lateral scales. 



Length to anus, 542 mm. 



Length of tail, 178 mm. 



Variation. — The Albemarle specimen has the upper post- 

 ocular of one side united with the parietal. It has eight supe- 

 rior and ten inferior labials, the fourth and fifth upper reaching 

 eye, the sixth in each series largest, five inferior in contact 

 with the anterior genial. Both it and No. 10281, from Brattle, 

 have all urosteges divided. 

 TABLE OF SCALE COUNTS, Dromicus occidentalis helleri, new sub-species 



The two Brattle snakes are absolutely alike in coloration, 



and the Albemarle specimen is very similar, as will be seen 



from the following description of Stanford University No. 



4977, adult female, from vie. Cape Berkeley, Albemarle Island. 



The head is brownish olive marbled with black. There is a dark post- 

 ocular or temporal streak. The labials are mottled with lighter. There 

 are no longitudinal light lines. The upper surfaces are dark brown spotted 

 with darker brown or black. On the neck, these spots are large, round 

 and very distinct and well defined. On the body, they are smaller and 

 become perhaps less distinct toward the tail. Still, they form, throughout 

 the whole length of the body, two alternating rows usually on the fifth 

 and eighth rows of scales of each side, dropping to the fourth and seventh 

 rows posteriorly. There are two or three pairs of whitish blotches on the 

 nape. The lower surfaces are yellowish irregularly spotted with brownish 

 black. Almost every gastrostege on the anterior two-thirds of the body 

 shows a definite blackish spot near its outer extremity on each side as in 

 the Narborough snakes, but there are no similar spots on the first row of 

 scales. 



