66 SYNOPSES AND DESCRIPTIONS. 



head with a triangular spot of yellow, bilobed in front. A band of brown 

 across the hinder part of prefrontals through the eye to the angle of the 

 mouth. East of the Mississippi Valley. 



Var. CALLIGASTER, 



Colors somewhat lighter than in specimens from the Eastern States. 

 Scales in 25 rows, Northern portion of Mississippi Valley. 



var. MEXICANITS. 



Body as in specimens from the Eastern States ; head much swollen at 

 the temples. Scales in 23 rows. Ventrals 193 — 199. Anal entire. Sub- 

 caudals 56 — 58 pairs. 



Brownish-grey to greyish-brown, with 38 — 40 transverse blotches of 

 red, inclosed by black, light-edged rings. These rings may be described 

 as pairs of transverse bands, which unite on the flank just above a large 

 light-edged black spot. The space occupied by the red and black together 

 about equals the dark one separating the rings. Alternating with the 

 spots on the flank there is a series of spots on each edge of the abdomen, 

 which are more or less confluent with the blotches of the middle of the 

 belly. Belly yellow, blotched with black, sometimes much more black 

 than yellow, more yellow forward. Chin and throat yellow. A large 

 black spot behind the eye, V-shaped marks of black on the top of the 

 head, opening forward. First blotch behind the head irregular, emargin- 

 ate arrow-shaped or divided longitudinally. Mexico, near San Luis Potosi. 



var. doliatus, pi. V, fig. 2. 

 Red, dorsal blotches more or less ring-like, 20 to 30, with or without the 

 spot on the flank. The triangular spot on the back of the head is replaced 

 by a transverse band, in front of which there is either a narrow black band 

 or the whole top of the head is black, excepting the labials and rostral. 

 Ventrals 181 to 208. Subject to great variation. Hab. southern part 

 of Mississippi Valley. 



var. gentilis. 

 Crown-shields, oculars, and rostral black. Prefrontals and loreal mot- 

 tled with yellow, with twenty to forty yellow rings encircling the body. 

 Between the yellow there are pairs of black rings inclosing a narrow space 

 of red, across which the black is sometimes confluent on belly and back, 



