88 SYNOPSES AND DESCRIPTIONS. 



fourth largest, the anterior widely separated from each other by contact of 

 mental and submentals. Anterior submentals longer than broad, posterior 

 minute. Total length 7/ 2 inches ; tail 1/, inches. 



Brown, end of muzzle yellow, lower surfaces and occipital region pale. 

 Sides and top of head and three longitudinal bands blackish; the latter 

 extend on to the common line of the third and fourth, and on the vertebral 

 series of scales: Ghiadalaxara, Mexico. (Cope.) 



Tantilla nigriceps. 



Kennicott, 1860, Pr. Ac. N. 8c., Phil., 328. 



More slender than T. gracilis, head narrower. Frontal more elongate 

 posteriorly, parietals narrower. Orbitals 1 — 2. Labials seven. 



Uniform brownish white (in Ale), light below. Crown as far as the 

 parietals deep black; no indication of a post-occipital black ring as in 

 T. coronata. (Kennicott.) Texas and New Mexico. 



Tantilla coronata. 



Baird & Girard, 1853, Cat. N. Amer. Serp., 131. 



Small, worm-like, slender, slightly depressed; head small, indistinct, 

 depressed, crown convex; tail short, slender, tapering to a point. Head- 

 shields nine, broad. Prefrontals short. Frontal hexangular, broad ante- 

 riorly. Parietals long, much separated in front by the frontal. Snout 

 broad, prominent. Rostral broad, bent back on the snout. Nasal divided, 

 nostril in anterior portion. No loreal. Orbitals 1 — 2. Eye small, over 

 the third and fourth labials, pupil round. Labials seven, posterior largest. 

 Infralabials six (6 — 7), fourth largest. Posterior pair of submentals much 

 shorter. Temporals 1+1. Scales smooth, subrhomboidal, in 15 rows, 

 outer broader. Ventrals 144. Anal bifid, rarely entire. Siibcaudals 40 

 pairs. 



Reddish-brown, head darker. A band of black from one half to six 

 scales wide across the neck on the dorsal rows, sometimes absent. A 

 narrow band of light color, a scale or two in width, crosses the occiput 

 on the extremities of the parietals. Frequently a light spot on the fifth 

 labial, reaching toward the eye. Infralabials more or less black. Belly 

 and throat uniform whitish. South Carolina to Mississippi. 



T. wagneri (Jan), from Florida ; has an entire anal-shield. 



