48 SYNOPSES AND DESCRIPTIONS. 



Spilotes COUPEEI. 



Coluber couperi Holbrook, 1842, Herp. N. Amer. Ill, 75. 

 Spilotes couperi Cope, 1S60, Pr. Ac. N. Sc, Phil, 342 and 564. 



Elongate, stout ; head distinct from the neck, high, crown arching lon- 

 gitudinally; tail short, near one sixth of the total. Crown-shields nine. 

 Rostral broader than high. Frontal about as broad as long. Nasal in 

 two parts, nostril between. A loreal. Oculars 1—2, anterior large. 

 Labials seven, anterior smaller, eye over the fourth and fifth, fourth sup- 

 porting the postorbital, fifth small triangular, sixth very large, extending 

 forward over the fifth, seventh large. Scales lustrous, imbricate, smooth, 

 in 17 rows. Ventrals 184 — 190. Anal entire. Subcaudals 60, not divided. 



Lustrous black. Belly more or less plumbeous; yellowish under the 

 throat and neck. The young are probably more yellow on the anterior 

 portions. Georgia, Texas. 



Spilotes obsoletus. 



Coluber obsoletus Holbrook, 1842, N. A. Herp. Ill, p. 61, pi. XII 



Body long, stout, compressed; head distinct from the neck; tail near 

 one sixth of the total. Eye medium, over the fourth and fifth labials. 

 Labials eight, fifth and seventh not in contact, sixth small, wedge-shaped. 

 Infralabials nine, fourth and fifth largest. A loreal, sometimes two. 

 Orbitals 1 — 2, posterior resting on the fifth labial. Scales in 17 rows. 

 Ventrals 193. Subcaudals 56 — 60. 



Black, plumbeous below; anterior half of the body with reddish- white 

 spots on the bases of some of the dorsal scales, and on the bases of ven- 

 trals. On the sides and under the head yellowish-red. Posterior margins 

 of labials and lower plates of the head black. Texas. 



Spilotes corais. 



Coluber corais Daudin, 1803, Hist. Kept. VII, 23. 

 Spilotes corais Bum. & Bibr., 1854, Erp. Gen. VII, 223. 



Elongate, stout, somewhat compressed; head large, subquadrangular in 

 cross section at the eye, crown flat ; tail rather less than one fifth of the 

 total, tapering. Eye moderate, pupil round. Mouth-cleft deep, curved. 

 Teeth gradually enlarging backward, smooth. Snout prominent, broad, 

 rounded. Crown-shields normal. Internasals subquadrate. Frontal and 

 prefrontals short ; the latter bent down on the sides of the face to the loreal. 

 Rostral broader than high. Nasal divided. One preocular, broader above, 



