﻿34 HALLOWELL ON SOUTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY. 



Gen. Remarks. — This serpent has the general characters of coronella, but the nos- 

 trils open between the anterior frontal and nasal plates, instead of the nasal and in- 

 ternasal, the two being fused into one plate. We have, therefore proposed for it the 

 generic name given above, although not disposed to attach much importance to minor 

 considerations of this kind in the determination of genera.* 



ZAMENIS, Wagler. 



Gen. char. — Head oblong, quadrate ; nostrils between two nasal plates ; two posterior 

 oculars; one loral; supraciliary plates projecting over the eye; vertical scute narrow; 

 trunk long, equal, rounded ; scales numerous, homogeneous, lanceolate, smooth ; tail 

 long. (Wagler.) 



Zamenis teicoloe, nob. PL IV. 



iSp. char. — Head depressed, of moderate size ; snout rounded ; nostrils between two 

 nasals ; a frenal, more or less quadrilateral ; one antocular ; two posterior oculars, the 

 superior the larger; nine superior labials, the inferior margin of the eye resting on the 

 fifth and sixth ; neck contracted ; body slender, thicker in the middle, with seventeen 

 rows of scales, the four or five inferior rows for the most part smooth, the rest very 

 slightly carinated; tail of moderate length. 



Coloration. — This serpent is very remarkable for its beauty ; the ground color of 

 each scale is a deep slate color, with a yellow longitudinal line in the middle, not 

 extending the whole length of the scale ; the anterior and posterior borders of each 

 scale bordered with light blue; under surface straw color. Abdom. scut. 148; 1 pre- 

 abdom. scut., bifid; 75 subcaudal. 



Dimensions. — Length of head, 1 inch ; greatest breadth, i inch ; length of body, 18 

 inches; circumference at middle, 2 inches; length of tail, 8i inches. 



Habitat. — Honduras, Central America. This specimen was recently brought from 

 Honduras by my friend Dr. Samuel Woodhouse. One is at once struck with the 

 beauty of this serpent. In its general appearance it resembles somewhat the Zamenis 

 viridi-flavus, of which we have a very fine specimen in the Academy, found by me 

 in the Pyrenees, — but their great dissimilarity is readily observed on placing the 

 animals in juxtaposition. The markings of the head and sides are altogether 

 different ; in viridi-flavus the eye rests upon the fourth and fifth labials, and not upon 

 the fifth and sixth, but the number of plates about the head is nearly the same, and 

 there is no great variation in the form. 



* Proceed. Acad. Nat. Sci., June, 1854. 



