SYNOPSES AND DESCRIPTIONS 71 



DlADOPHIS DECORATUS. 



Coronella decokata Guntlier, 1858, Cat. Col. Snakes, 35. 



Body moderate, slightly depressed; head distinct, depressed; tail slen- 

 der, near one third of the total. Eye moderate, pupil round. Crown- 

 shields regular. Internasals and prefrontals broad. Frontal broad, acute- 

 angled posteriorly. Parietals large, in length equal to that of the head in 

 front of them. Nasal small, in two parts, nostril between. Loreal an 

 irregular polygon, in contact with six plates. Anteorbitals three, lower 

 very small, in notch between third and fourth labials. Postoculars two, 

 lower smaller. Temporals 1-1-2, or fused with labial. Labials eight, 

 fourth and fifth in orbit, seA r enth large and abruptly higher than the 

 sixth. Infralabials nine, sixth large. Submentals two pairs, subequal, 

 posterior diverging. Scales smooth, flat, rounded at the extremity, in 17 

 rows, outer broader. Ventrals 160. Anal bifid. Subcaudals 107 pairs, 

 sometimes a few simple. 



Greyish-brown, head darker, lighter toward the tail. A narrow white 

 dark-edged band from the muzzle along the facial angle through the upper 

 postocular slightly downward to the neck, then rising and occupying the 

 fifth row of scales on the body, where it becomes brownish, and continues 

 as a light line above a narrow line of dark on the fourth row. A narrow 

 black line on the vertebral row. Labials and ventral surface whitish, the 

 anterior labials and each extremity of the ventrals with a spot of dark. 

 Length 9^- inches ; tail 3^ inches. Mountains of Alvarez, Mexico. 



DlADOPHIS FUL.VIVITTIS. 



Rhadinea Fulvivittis Cope, 1875, Batr. and Rept. Costa Rica, 139. 



Very likely to prove a variety of the preceding. " Head small, not very 

 distinct from the body. Frontal a little longer than the suture from it to 

 the nasals, and a little shorter than the common suture of the occipitals, 

 two-thirds as wide as long. Rostral small, low; postnasal higher than 

 long; loreal as high as long. Superior labials eight, seventh highest; 

 temporals 1 — 1. Inferior labials ten, sixth largest, in contact with middle 

 of post geneials. Scales poreless, in 17 rows. Gastrosteges 177. Anal 

 divided; urosteges 91. 



"Color above fulvous, below fulvous yellow. The three brown bands 

 extend from the end of the nose to near the end of the tail ; the lateral 

 involves the fourth and half of each adjacent row of scales, and is black- 



