May, 1803.1 REPTILES OF THE DEATH VALLEY EXPEDITION. 205 



4G76; only one specimen is now in the collection) has no pseudo- 

 preocular, a character only shared by a specimen from the city of Chi- 

 huahua, Mexico (U. S. Nat. Mus. No., 14287), while it is present in all 

 the other specimens. These two specimens, therefore, I shall continue 

 to call H. cliloroplicea until it be shown that the absence of the pseudo- 

 preocular is only an individual variation. 



The specimen collected by the expedition adds a new species to the 

 fauna of the State of California, if I am not mistaken. 



Assuming, for the present at least, the distinctness of II. chloropham, 

 we would have three species or forms within the United States, includ- 

 ing' an undescribed species from southwestern Texas,* which may be 

 distinguished as follows: 



a 1 . Upper surface of head flat. 



¥ . No pseudopreocular H. ch lorophwa. 



b 2 . Pseudopreocnlar present H. ochrorhynchus. 



a 2 . Upper surface of head convex H. texana. 



Salvadora grahanriae hexalepis Cope. (PI. ill, fig. 2). 



The four specimens collected by the expedition belong to this form, 

 as I now understand it, that is to say, to the form which possesses at 

 least one true subocular (by this term excluding the subpreocular, or 

 pseudopreocular). One of the specimens (No. 180(32 Virgiu River, 

 Nevada) possesses only one subocular (anterior), and agrees in this 

 respect perfectly with specimens from Fort Whipple, Arizona (type 

 locality) ; Mohave Villages, Arizona ; Cottonwood Canon, Utah, and Valle 

 de la Yiejas, San Diego County, California. The three other specimens, 

 however, differ from all the other specimens I have seen in also having 

 a posterior subocular, thus isolating the eye entirely from the labials. 



The individual variation in this species is too great, however, to allow 

 a subdivision on these lines without a much greater material to sup- 

 port it. There is evidently a tendency towards dividing up the labials 

 transversely in the region indicated by the localities mentioned above, 

 and as this subdivision seems to be proportionate to the greater width 

 of the rostral, it would be natural to conclude that the two characters 

 may have a common origin. The fact that these localities are the most 

 arid of all those from which I have specimens of Salvadora is very sug- 

 gestive, since these snakes to a great extent live in holes in the ground. 



* Hypsiglena texana, sp. u. 



Diagnosis. — Similar to H. ochrorhynchus, but with the upper surface of the head 

 convex, the lateral outline of the frontal curved outward, aud the dark eye stripe 

 covering more than upper half of the sixth supralabial. 



Scale rows, 21; gastrosteges, 175; urosteges, 43; supralabials, 8; preoculars, 1; 

 pseudopreoculars, 1: pOstoculars, 2; temporals, 1. 



Type. — U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 1782; between Laredo and Camargo, Tex.; U. S. Mex. 

 Bound. Surv., Arthur Schott, coll. 



Habitat. — Southwestern Texas 



In addition to the type specimen the museum possesses two other specimens, one 

 collected by Mr. W. Taylor at San Diego, Texas (U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 15672), and 

 one by Mr. Butcher at Laredo (No. 7124). Both agree in every respect with the type. 



