SYNOPSES AND DESCRIPTIONS. 105 



Black rings not in groups; 



first broad ring behind the occiput black fulvius. 



first broad ring behind the occiput red euryxanthus. 



black rings in threes; 



occipital band red ; a yellow band in front of the eyes ; middle 



band of group wider decoratus. 



occipital band black; 



black bands subequal, narrow ; 13 — 14 groups elegans. 

 occipital band yellow; 



middle band of each group much wider ; 7 — 8 groups 



laticollaris. 



Elaps fulvius, pi. VIII, jig. 3. 



Coluber fulvius Linne, 1766, Syst. Nat., ed. XII, p. 381. 

 Elaps fulvius Cuvier, 1817, Regn. Anim., ed. I, p. 84. 



Slender, cylindrical; head little broader than the neck, depressed, rounded; 

 tail short, thick, conical, near one seventh of the total. Mouth-cleft medium, 

 nearly straight. Head-shields nine, short, broad. Rostral low, broad, sub- 

 triangular. Nasal in two parts, nostril between, anterior larger. Orbitals 

 1 + 2, exceptionally one postorbital. Labials 7 (6 — 8), third and fourth in 

 orbit, fifth, sixth, and seventh larger. Infralabials 7, fourth large, in contact 

 with the posterior pair of submentals. Scales smooth, broad, in 15 rows, 

 outer broader. Ventrals 202—236 (tenere, B. et G., 221—236). Anal 

 divided, sometimes entire. Subcaudals 25 — 44 pairs. Head and tail 

 ringed with black and yellow, body with black, red, and yellow. Head 

 black, with a yellow ring crossing the occipitals, its width equal to their 

 length, widening downward. Body encircled by 13 — 20 rings of each of 

 the black and the red, in some of the varieties the number is greater. The 

 yellow are twice as many and serve as borders to the black, in some cases 

 they are nearly obsolete. All the rings vary much in width, commonly the 

 yellow ones are very narrow, and with the included red one, occupy about as 

 much space as one of the black; frequently the black is the narrower. The 

 red is generally spotted or dotted with black ; specimens from Alabama and 

 Florida show in the midst of the red band an oblong spot on each side of 

 the vertebral line and a large rounded spot on the middle of the belly. 

 Largest specimen two feet in total length ; tail three inches. Hab. South- 

 ern United States to Mexico, and southward through varieties. 



