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Show 1 9 0 5 .] AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES. 2 2 5 Erythrolamprus and Oxybelis are likewise South and Central American genera, entering the Tierra Caliente; e. g. 0. acuminatus from South America to Motzorongo in Yera Cruz, and through Guerrero to Mazatlan ; it is also on the Tres Marias Islands. K. jissidens extends from Costa Rica along the Atlantic side of Mexico to Tamaulipas and thence into Texas. Conophis, South and Central American, with C. viltatus on the Isthmus and in Guerrero. Scolecophis.-The few species live in rather high altitudes. S. cemulce in the mountains of Chihuahua ; S. michoacensis; A. atrocinctus at Toluca (fide Cope) and in Guatemala. Homalocranium, with two dozen species, mostly in South and Central America, whence 8 Mexicans, chiefly on either side of the plateau, and north-eastwards, through Nuevo Leon into Texas. These last two genera are not arboreal. Stenorhina degenhardti from Ecuador into the Atlantic hot country. Manolepis putnami, hitherto known only from Jalisco, e. g. Cumbre de los Arrastrados, 8000 feet; I have found it on the Cumbre de los Cajones, south of Chilpancingo, in pine and oak forest, altitude 3000 feet. Petalognathus nebulatus. Of this South and Central American species I found one specimen in the forest of La Raya, south of Cordoba. A m b l y c k p h a l id /E.- With a few forms in South-eastern Asia, but many in South and Central America. Of the 20 species of Leptognathns, only L. elegans reaches the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. E la p in .e .- Of the many species of the Neotropical genus Elaps only 2 or 3 occur in Mexico. The commonest, E.fulvius, ranges from South Brazil far into the Eastern United States. In Mexico it seems to live in the whole southern half, including the plateau, e. g. Mexico and Guanajuato; it is curious that it has not yet been recorded from anywhere north of aline drawn from Mazatlan to Guanajuato and Tuxpan, but Cope mentions E. euryxanthus of Arizona from " Chihuahua" and " Sonora." E. elegans seems to range from Guatemala into the Atlantic Tierra Caliente near Jalapa. No Elapine snakes occur in the Antilles. These " Coralillos," although well-known to be poisonous, are not feared because they do not bite unless handled clumsily ; when they bite they do not strike, but chew deliberately like our European Coronella. Although occasionally found basking, they lead a very retired life, preferring vegetation, hiding under rotten stumps, with a predilection for ants' nests. They are practically nocturnal like nearly all the non-poisonous snakes which possess the same beautiful coloration; the combination of black and red rings has a most effacing effect in the dusk. P roc . Z ool. S oc.-1905, Y o l . II. No. XV. 15 |