190 COLUBEID^. 



pits, more or less oblique, in 15 or 17 rows ; ventrals rounded. 

 Tail long ; subcaudals in two rows. 

 Tropical America. 



Synopsis of the Species. 



I. Snout not thrice as long as the eye ; anal entire. 



Scales in 15 rows ; two labials entering 



the eye 1. hrevirostris, p. 190. 



Scales in 17 rows ; a single labial bordering 



the eye 2. argenteus, p. 190. 



II. Snout thrice as long as the eye ; anal divided. 



Dorsal scales keeled ; green above 3. fulgid-us, p. 191. 



Scales smooth or faintly keeled 4. acuminatus, p. 192, 



1. Oxybelis hrevirostris. 



Dryophis hrevirostris, Cope, Proe. Ac. PhUad. 1860, p. 665, and 



Journ. Ac. Philad. (2) viii. 1876, p. 132, pi. xxvi. fig. 2. 

 Oxybelis cserulescens, Jan, Elenco, p. 88 (1863). 



Snout once and a half as long as the snout, which scarcely 

 projects beyond the lower jaw. Rostral twice as broad as deep, 

 scarcely visible from above ; internasals nearly as long as the prse- 

 frontals; frontal twice to twice and a half as long as broad, 

 narrower than the supraocular, as long as its distance from the end 

 of the snout, as long as the parietals ; no loreal, prsefrontal in 

 contact with two labials ; one prseocular, in contact with or 

 narrowly separated from the frontal ; one or two postoculars ; tem- 

 porals very large, 1 + 2; six upper labials, third and fourth entering 

 the eye ; four lower labials in contact with the anterior chin- 

 shields, which are much shorter than the posterior. Scales smooth 

 or faintly keeled, in 15' rows. Ventrals 167-183 ; anal entire ; 

 subcaudals 170-174. Olive or purplish above, pale green beneath ; 

 a dark streak on each side of the head, passing through the eye. 



Total length 925 miUim. ; tail 385. 



Central America, Colombia, Ecuador. 



a. cj (V. 183 ; 0. 174). Chontalez, Nicaragua. R. A. Rix, Esq. [C] ; 



W. M. Crowfoot, 

 Esq. [P.]. 



S. (J (V. 167 ; C. 172). Pallatanga, Ecuador. Mr. C. Buckley [0.]. 



2. Oxybelis argenteus. 



Coluber argenteus, Daud. Rept. vi. p. 336 (1803). 



argentatus, Merr. Tent. p. 116 (1820). 



Dryiophis argentea, Schleg. Phys. Serp. ii. p. 263, pi. x. figs. 14 & 15 



(1837) ; Gunth. Cat. p; 155 (1858). 

 Oxybelis argenteus, Dum. Sr Bibr. vii. p. 816 (1864) ; Steind. Nwara^ 



Sept. p. 73 (1867) ; Jan, Icon. G4n. 33, pi. iii. fig. 1 (1869). 



