Vo L. 5, p. 137-139. December 29, 1924T 



Occasional Papers 



OF THE 



Boston Society of Natural History. 



A NEW SNAKE OF THE GENUS LAMPROPELTIS. 



BY ARTHUR LOVERIDGE. 



Among a small collection of reptiles made at Miquihuana, 

 Tamaulipas, Mexico, by Mr. Wilmot W. Brown, and presented 

 to the Museum of Comparative Zoology by Col. John E. Thayer, 

 was a very handsome King Snake which Dr. Barbour has kindly 

 allowed me to describe. Owing to Dr. F. N. Blanchard's recent 

 excellent revision of the genus^ this has been an easy matter. 



Lampropeltis thayeri, sp. nov. 



Type, No. 19551, Museum of Comparative Zoology (collec- 

 tor's No. 1944), an adult male from Miquihuana, Tamaulipas, 

 Mexico, collected by W. W. Brown. June 16, 1924. 



Diagnosis. — Differs from L. mexicana in being completely 

 ringed with broad bands of bright Venetian red, margined with 

 narrow rings of black, 30 of such red rings as against 39 red 

 blotches on L. mexicana. Dorsal scale-rows 25-23-19 as against 

 23-21-19; nine infralabials against ten, there being four instead 

 of five under the last three supralabials. The higher number of 

 caudals, 62 instead of 55, is a sexual difference to be expected as 

 the types of L. mexicana are both females. 



Description. — Ventrals, 194; caudals, 62; supralabials, 7; in- 

 fralabials, 9, fifth largest, 4 under the last 3 supralabials; preocular 

 single; postoculars, 2; temporals, 2 in the first row, 3 in the second, 

 and 4 or 5 in the third; posterior chin-shields shorter than the 

 anterior, and separated from each other by a small scale; loreal 

 about twice as long as high; anal plate entire; scales smooth, with 

 2 apical pits in some cases only; dorsal scale-rows 25-23-19. 

 Length of body, 690 mm. Length of tail, 50 mm. Tail is con- 

 tained 14| times in total length. Eye as large as in L. mexicana 

 but its diameter is not twice the height of the third supralabial, 

 being but very slightly greater than the height of the third 

 supralabial. 



Coloration. — Head dirty white above, so heavily stippled with 

 black as to produce a gray effect by nearly obscuring the ground 

 color; a black blotch behind the eye; the frontal, supraoculars, 

 and anterior third of the parietals bright Venetian red bordered by 



^ Blanchard, F. N. "A Revision of the King Snakes: Genus Lampropeltis." 

 Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., no. 114, 1921. 



137 



