This specimen, a male having a body length of 544 mm. and a tail length
of 198 mm., was found in a felled tree. In life the belly was pink and
black; the dorsal black blotches were narrowly outlined with pink.
=Spilotes pullatus mexicanus= (Laurenti)
Chinaja, 3; 20 km. NNW of Chinaja, 1; Sayaxche, 1.
This large snake, locally called _mica_, seems to be equally at home on
the ground and in low trees and bushes. It is fast moving for a large
snake; two individuals escaped capture. The natives said that this snake
eats other snakes, but examination of stomachs revealed no supporting
evidence.
=Stenorrhina degenhardti= (Berthold)
Chinaja, 1.
This specimen, a female having 158 ventrals, 37 caudals, and a total
length of 489 mm., was found on the forest floor. On the olive-brown
dorsum are 27 irregular, narrow, dark brown, transverse bands. The head
is uniform olive-brown; the chin and labials are cream-color. The
venter is cream-color with a row of brown spots forming a midventral
stripe. A large spider was found in the stomach.
I have refrained from assigning a subspecific name to this snake.
Cursory examination of specimens from throughout Mexico and Central
America reveals a bewildering array of variation in coloration that
suggests that the subspecies _mexicanus_ is not recognizable, or that
two species occur sympatrically in parts of southern Mexico and northern
Central America.
=Tretanorhinus nigroluteus lateralis= Bocourt
Chinaja, 1.
A single male having 136 ventrals, 75 caudals, and a total length of 407
mm. was found by a stream in camp. The dorsum is pale grayish tan with
34 pairs of small chocolate brown spots, some of the anterior ones of
which are connected across the back. A cream-colored lateral stripe is
on the third and fourth dorsal scale-rows anteriorly and the second and
third rows posteriorly. The lower dorsal scale rows are black. The
venter is dark grayish brown with cream-colored flecks anteriorly and
creamy gray posteriorly where the dark color is restricted to the
midventral region and the lateral edges of ventrals and first dorsal
scale-row.
=Xenodon rabdocephalus mexicanus= Smith
Chinaja, 1; 20 km. NNW of Chinaja, 1.
Both individuals were found on the forest floor. An adult male having a
total length of 420 mm. has a cream-colored venter with brown flecks. A
juvenile having a total length of 172 mm. has a creamy white belly with
black crossbands.
At the suggestion of L. C. Stuart, I am following Schmidt (1941:501) in
placing _X. mexicanus_ as a subspecies of _X. rabdocephalus_.
=Micrurus affinis apiatus= (Jan)