140 BULLETIN 114, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



1886. Coronella formosa oligozona Bocourt, Miss. Sci. Mex., p. 614, pi. 39, figs. 8, 



8a-8c? (Tehuantepec, west slope of Guatemala) (two cotypea in Paris 

 Museum; type locality, Tehuantepec), 



1887. Ophibolus doliatus cocdneus (part) Cope, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., no. 32, 



p. 78 (Guatemala, Zacualtipan). 



1887. Ophibolus doliatus polyzonus (part) Cope, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mue., no. 32, 

 p. 78; Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 11, 1888, p. 382; vol. 14, 1891, p. 608; 

 Amer. Nat., vol. 27, 1893, p. 1067. — Osceola doliata polyzona Cope, Rep. 

 U. S. Nat. Mus. for 1898, 1900, p. 898. 



1903. Coronella micropholis arcifera Werner, Zool. Anz., vol. 26, p. 250 (type 

 specimen in Naturhistorischen Museum in Briissel; type locality, Mex- 

 ico). 



In the same paper in which the original description of polyzona 

 appeared Cope described a specimen from Panama under the name 

 of micropholis. He later decided that it was identical with polyzona, 

 and thereafter called both by the latter name. Other authors 

 have likewise considered the two names synonymous, but have 

 generally used the name micropTiolis in preference to polyzona, be- 

 cause it appeared a page earlier than the latter. The present 

 review, however, has disclosed the fact that Cope really did have two 

 very distinct forms before him. The great variability and relative 

 abundance of specimens of the northern one and the scarcity of 

 specimens of the southern form have hitherto obscured the distinct- 

 ness of the latter. 



The paper containing the original descriptions of polyzona and mi- 

 cropolis was read before the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia in June, 1860, and was probably published before the end of 

 that year in one of the quarterly issues of the Proceedings. The 

 volume for 1860 bears the date 1861. It seems to be impossible to 

 determine the exact date for the whole volume or for the quarterly 

 portion containing Cope's paper, but it in all probability antedates 

 Jan's figure of Coronella doliata, y&t. formosa of December, 1861 . Jan's 

 formosa, however, was a composite, as a study of his figures B and B* 

 shows, and the writer therefore, in accordance with his privilege as 

 first reviser, designates as the type of formosa figure B* (Jan. 1861, 

 livr. 14, pi. 4), thus making the type locality definite and fixing the 

 name formosa Jan as a synonym of micropholis Cope. 



Description. — In Mexico and Central America this is the best known 

 form of the genus. The following summary of scutellation is based 

 upon the examination of 48 specimens and published records of about 

 a dozen more: Ventral plates, 208 to 239; caudal, 42 to 61; 1 pre- 

 ocular; 2, very rarely 1 or 3, postoculars; supralabials, 7, rarely 8; 

 infralabials, 9, sometimes 8, less often 10; temporals usually 2 + 3+4; 

 loreal usually present, and longer than high, sometimes about as 

 high as long, occasionally absent, its place being then occupied 

 chiefly by a backward extension of the posterior nasal; posterior chin 



