192 APPENDIX P.— REPTILES. 



3. EuT^ENIA MARCIANA, B. & G. 

 Zoology, PI. III. 



Spec. char. — Prominent color light brown; a vertebral paler line 

 and one lateral on each side, more or less indistinct. Three series of 

 square black spots on each side, of about 56-60 in each series, from 

 occiput to anus. Sides of head black, with a crescentic patch of yel- 

 lowish posterior to the labial plates. Three and sometimes four black 

 vittse radiating from the eye across the jaws. A double white spot with 

 a black margin on the suture of occipital plates. 



Syn. — Eutainia niarciana, B. and G. Cat. N. Amer. Rept. 1, 1853, 36. 



Desc. — The markings about the head are generally very constant 

 and distinct. Viewed laterally, we see first the large dark-brown patch 

 at the back part of the head, extending as far back as the posterior ex- 

 tremity of the jawbones. In the anterior part of this patch is seen the 

 crescentic patch (concave before) of yellowish white, with a more or less 

 narrow dark-brown margin anteriorly. The next black band starts from 

 the posterior edge of the superciliaries, and passes obliquely downwards 

 and backwards along the posterior edge of the 6 th upper labial. Sim- 

 ilar black margins are seen on the posterior edges of the 5 th and 4th 

 labials, the intervening spaces being yellowish white, particularly on the 

 5th upper labial. Occasionally the posterior margins of the Yth and 

 3d labials have the black line as well as those mentioned, which fre- 

 quently extend across to the posterior margins of the corresponding 

 lower labials. The white spot on the anterior portion of the occipital 

 suture is always margined with black. 



The six series of black spots are arranged so as to alternate with each 

 other. The lower or third series on each side is below the indistinct 

 lateral stripe. The posterior edge of each abdominal scutella shows a 

 black margined spot on each side. The dorsal line is generally a single 

 scale in width, occasionally including portions of the lateral, and itself 

 sometimes encroached upon by the black spots. Each spot is about a 

 scale or a scale and a half long, and about three scales broad. The 

 number in the dorsal series from the head to the anus varies from 56 to 

 60. Posterior edges of scales very slightly emarginate, if at all. All 

 are decidedly keeled. 



Dorsal scales disposed in 21 rows; abdominal scutellse, 152 ; sub- 

 caudal, 75. Total length 34 inches ; length of tail, 8 inches. 



Collected between Camp 5 and Red river, on the open prairie. 



This species is very widely distributed in the south and west. Red 

 river forms its limit on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico on the east ; 



