.26 
Transactions Texas Academy of Science. 
ANCISTRODON CONTORTRIX, Linnceus. 
(“Copperhead”) 
Plate III. 
DESCRIPTION. 
“Loreal present. Labials not entering into the orbit. Dorsal rows of 
scales, twenty-three. Color, light chestnut, with inverted Y shaped 
darker blotches on the side. Labials yellowish white. More slender 
than A. piscivorus. Plates on neck and sides smaller. Two anterior 
orbitals, one above the other, the lower narrower and forming the pos- 
terior wall of pit. A distinct loreal between these and the posterior 
nasal. Labial not forming part of the orbit, but separated by the four 
post and suborbitals. Labials not so largely developed; eight above, 
third and fourth largest; nine below. Above light hazel brown, rather 
brighter on the top of the head, and everywhere minutely mottled with 
very fine, dark points. On each side is a series of fifteen to twenty-six 
darker chestnut colored blotches resting on the abdominal scutellse 
(ventrals, or gastrosteges), and suddenly contracting about the middle 
of the side, so as somewhat to resemble an inverted Y. These blotches 
extend to the vertebral line, where they may be truncated* or end in a 
rounded apex. Generally, those of opposite sides alternate with each 
other, but frequently they are confluent above, forming continuous bands. 
They are so disposed that the intervals between the successive blotches 
are pretty much of the same shape and size, though inverted. The 
centers of the blotches are lighter ; in some cases so much so as greatly to 
increase the Y shaped resemblance. Color beneath dull yellowish, with 
a series of distinct large blotches, thirty-five to forty-five in number, on 
each side. Chin and throat unspotted. Sides of head cream color; the 
line of demarcation very distinct; this passes along the upper edge of 
head, in front of the eye, and involving the lower three-fourths of the 
orbit, intersects the middle of the second post orbital plate (counting 
from above), and extends along the first row above the labials to the 
posterior edge of the last labial. The line then comes back through the 
middle of the lower labial range, where it is marked by a narrow black 
line. Rostral of the same color. A small areolated dark spot near the 
inner edge of each occipital (parietal) plate. Number of gastrosteges, 
150 to 154; urosteges, undivided, 31 to 38; divided, 0 to 18 pairs. 
(Stejneger, “Poisonous Snakes of North America.”) 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 
In all the timbered lands of Texas. 
