PF) yt 
J UL 
THE Weert AIMERICAN Se1ENTIsT. 
VoL. VI. Pe AUGUST, 1360. No. 46 
meeevOSIS “OF ANEW SPECIES OF SNAKE 
(LICHANURA ORCUTTI), FROM SAN DIEGO 
COONTY,. CALIFORNIA. 
The snakes belonging to the superfamily, Boioidez or Pero- 
poda, the “‘ boiform’’ snakes characterized by the presence of 
rudiments of posterior extremities, are represented in the North 
American fauna by a few forms only. ‘On the whole continent 
north of Panama there are only known about fourteen species 
belonging to seven genera, but of these only one species has 
hitherto been recorded from the United States, viz: Charina 
plumbea, B.and G., which ranges from Sonora to British Colum- 
bia. To this we may nowadd Lichanura myriolepis, Cope,which 
occurs in the neighborhood of San Diego, and a new species of 
the same genus, which I have named in honor of its discoverer, 
Mr. C.R. Orcutt. A detailed description with figures and com- 
parison with allied species will shortly appear in the ‘‘ Proceed- 
ings of the U. S. National Museum.” The Assistant Secretary 
of the Smithsonian Institution in charge of the museum, Professor 
G. Brown Goode, has kindly permitted the following reprint of 
the diagnosis of this interesting species, copied from advanced 
sheets of the ‘‘ Proceedings :”’ 
“LICHANURA ORCUTTI sp. nov. 
‘“ Scales in 33 to 35 rows; eye encircled by 9 or 10 scales; 
‘“loreals 4; labials 13-15; gasterosteges 232; anal entire; uros- 
teges 45, entire. 
‘““ HapitatT:— Colorado Desert, San Diego county, California. 
ooeeee O75. Nat.’ Mus. No. 15503; ©. R: Orcutt coll., April, 
“1889. 
“Rostral plate very prominent, recurved, pentagonal, its 
‘“nasal border twice as long as its labial. 
“Of the forms which compose this genus the present species 
“appears to be the most highly differentiated, the most distinc- 
‘“tive feature being the elongation of the snout, and the promin- 
*“ence and shape of the rostral.’’ Leonhard Stejneger. 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, } 
WASHINGTON, D. C., June 24, 18809. 
