Volume 4 — ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE SPOTTED NIGHT SNAKE, HYPSIGLENA OCHRORHYNCHUS, IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA; AND ON THE SHAPE OF THE PUPIL IN THE REPTILIAN GENUS ARIZONA

BY JOHN VAN DENBURGH

Curator of the Department of Herpetology.

On the Occurrence of the Spotted Night Snake, Hypsiglena ochrorhynchus, in Central California

The little snake to which Cope, in 1860,[33] gave the name Hypsiglena ochrorhynchus was first described from specimens secured at Cape San Lucas, Lower California. It has since been found to range across Arizona and northern Mexico to Texas. As recently as 1893, so little was known of the distribution of this snake in California that Dr. Stejneger,[34] in recording the single specimen secured by the Death Valley Expedition in the Argus Range, Inyo County, California, thought that it added a species to the known fauna of the State. This snake had, however, already been taken at San Diego, California, as mentioned by Professor Cope[35] in 1883. More recently, the species has been recorded by Cope[36] from Witch Creek, San Diego County, and by myself[37] from the Cuyamaca Mountains, San Diego County; Strawberry Valley and San Jacinto, Riverside County, and Hesperia, San Bernardino County.

These localities are all in the Desert and San Diegan faunal areas. It was with much interest, therefore, that I found this snake in the Californian Fauna close to the edge of the Pacific Fauna. The specimen was secured near Los Gatos, Santa Clara County, several hundred miles beyond the range of the species as previously known. It was found under a pile of recently cut hay, at an altitude of about eight or nine hundred feet, in what is locally known as the warm belt of the foothills, where Bascanion laterale, Cnemidophorus tigris undulates, and Amphispiza belli also occur.

On the Shape of the Pupil in the Reptilian Genus Arizona

There has been, among herpetologists, much diversity of opinion as to the merits of Kennicott's genus Arizona. The validity of the single species for which he proposed the name Arizona elegans has, I believe, never been questioned, but the known generic characters have been rather inadequate. Accordingly, while some authors have followed Kennicott, others have referred the species variously to the genera Pituophis of Holbrook, Rhinechis of Michahelles, or Coluber of Linnæus.

I believe that all authors (myself included) who mention the point at all describe the eye of this snake as showing a round pupil. This is true of most alcoholic specimens, for in these the pupil usually is dilated. In two living specimens, however, I find that the pupil is slightly irregular in outline so that it appears somewhat eccentric, that it varies considerably in size from time to time, and that it is distinctly elliptic, with the long diameter vertical, but becomes nearly round when dilated. Some alcoholic specimens also show the pupil somewhat contracted and elliptic.

This point is of some importance, since the possession of a vertically elongate pupil is in itself ample basis for the recognition of the genus Arizona as distinct from the other colubrine genera with which it has been confused.

San Francisco, California,

February 24, 1906.

INDEX TO VOLUME IV, THIRD SERIES, ZOOLOGY.

New names in heavy-faced type; Synonyms in italics.

adamanteus atrox, Crotalus, 18

Amphisphiza belli, 66

Anaides lugubris, 5

Anniella:

The species of the Reptilian Genus Anniella with Especial Reference to Anniella texana and to Variation in Anniella nigra, 41-9

nigra, 42, 43, 44, 48, 49

pulchra, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48

texana, 42, 43, 44, 45, 48

anthonyi, Bascanion, 3, 4, 27

Arizona:

On the Shape of the Pupil in the Reptilian Genus Arizona, 66-7

elegans, 66

atrox, Crotalus, 18, 24

attenuatus, Batrachoseps, 3, 6, 7, 16

auriculata, Uta, 3, 4, 26,

Autodax lugubris, 4, 5

lugubris farallonensis, 2, 3, 4, 5

Bascanion, 25

anthonyi, 3, 4, 27,

laterale, 26, 66

laterale fuliginosum, 3, 4, 26

Batrachoseps attenuatus, 3, 6, 7, 16

pacificus, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11

becki, Sceloporus, 2, 3, 4, 9

beldingi, Verticaria, 23

belli, Amphispiza, 66

biseriatus becki, Sceloporus, 3, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14,

Callisaurus ventralis, 3, 25

catenifer, Pituophis, 3, 21

catenifer deserticola, Pituophis, 21

cerroense, Phrynosoma, 3, 4, 23

clarionensis, Uta, 3, 4, 27

clarki clarki, Sceloporus, 23

Cnemidophorus labialis, 3, 4, 24,

multiscutatus, 3, 4, 24

rubidus, 3, 25, 26,

tessellatus rubidus, 26

tessellatus multiscutatus, 24

tigris undulatus, 66

Coluber, 66

confluentus confluentus, Crotalus 18

copeii, Crotaphytus, 25

Crotalus adamanteus atrox, 18

atrox, 18, 24

confluentus confluentus, 18

exsul, 3, 4, 24,

lucifer, 16, 18

mitchellii, 3, 26

oregonus, 3, 16, 18

Crotaphytus copeii, 25

wislizenii, 25

curla, Hyla, 23

Dermochelys:

On the Occurrence of the Leather-back Turtle, Dermochelys, on the Coast of California, 51-6

Dipsosaurus dorsalis, 3, 24

dorsalis, Dipsosaurus, 3, 24

elegans, Arizona, 66

exsul, Crotalus, 3, 4, 24

Gerrhonotus, 18, 20

multicarinatus, 14

palmeri, 21

scincicauda, 3, 10, 12, 14, 19, 20, 21

scincicauda ignavus, 2, 3, 19, 21,

scincicaudus, 14

Hemidactylium pacificum, 6

hernandezi, Phrynosoma, 23

Hyla curla, 23

regilla, 3, 13, 23

hyperythra beldingi, Verticaria, 3, 23, 25

Hypsiglena ochrorhynchus, 18

On the Occurrence of the Spotted Night Snake, Hypsiglena ochrorhynchus in Central California; and on the Shape of the Pupil in the Reptilian Genus Arizona, 65-6

ignavus, Gerrhonotus scincicauda, 2, 3, 19, 21

intermedius, Plethodon, 61

labialis, Cnemidophorus, 3, 4, 24

laterale, Bascanion, 26, 66

laterale fuliginosum, Bascanion, 3, 4, 26

lateralis fuliginosus, Zamenis, 26

lucifer, Crotalus, 16, 18

lugubris, Anaides, 5

lugubris, Autodax, 4, 5

lugubris farallonensis, Autodax, 2, 3, 4, 5

martinensis, Uta, 2, 3, 4, 18

mitchellii, Crotalus, 3, 26

multicarinatus, Gerrhonotus, 14

multiscutatus, Cnemidophorus, 3, 4, 24,

multiscutatus tessellatus, Cnemidophorus, 24

nigra, Anniella, 42, 43, 44, 48, 49

nigricauda, Uta, 3, 25

occidentalis, Sceloporus, 9, 10, 12

ochrorhynchus, Hypsiglena, 65-6

oregonensis, Plethodon, 61, 62

oregonus, Crotalus, 3, 16, 18

pacificum, Hemidactylium, 6

pacificus, Batrachoseps, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11

palmeri, Gerrhonotus, 21

Phrynosoma, cerroense, 3, 4, 23

hernandezi, 23

Pituophis, 66

catenifer, 3, 21

catenifer deserticola, 21

Pityophis sayi bellona, 21

Plethodon, 7

intermedius, 61

oregonensis, 61, 62

vandykei, 61

Description of a New Species of Plethodon, 61-3

pulchra, Anniella, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48,

regilla, Hyla, 3, 13, 23

Rhinechis, 66

riversiana, Xantusia, 3, 4, 15, 16, 17

rubidus, Cnemidophorus, 3, 25, 26

rubidus, Cnemidophorus tessellatus, 26

sayi bellona, Pityophis, 21

Sceloporus becki, 2, 3, 4, 9

biseriatus becki, 3, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14

clarki clarki, 23

occidentalis, 9, 10, 12

undulatus, 9

zosteromus, 3, 23, 25, 26

scincicauda, Gerrhonotus, 3, 10, 12, 14, 19, 20, 21

scincicauda ignavus, Gerrhonotus, 2, 3, 19, 21

scincicaudus, Gerrhonotus, 14

stansburiana, Uta, 3, 13, 14, 16, 17, 21, 23, 24

stellata, Uta, 2, 3, 4, 21

tessellatus rubidus, Cnemidophorus 26

tessellatus multiscutatus, Cnemidophorus, 24

texana, Anniella, 42, 43, 44, 45, 48

tigris undulatus, Cnemidophorus, 66

undulatus, Cnemidophorus tigris, 66

undulatus, Sceloporus, 9

Uta, 18, 27

auriculata, 3, 4, 26

clarionensis, 3, 4, 27

martinensis, 2, 3, 4, 18

nigricauda, 3, 25

stansburiana, 3, 13, 14, 16, 17, 21, 23, 24

stellata, 2, 3, 4, 21

vandykei, Plethodon

Description of a New Species of the Genus Plethodon, 61-3

ventralis, Callisaurus, 3, 25

Verticaria beldingi, 23

hyperythra beldingi, 3, 23, 25

wislizenii, Crotaphytus, 25

Xantusia riversiana, 3, 4, 15, 16, 17

Zamenis lateralis fuliginosus, 26

zosteromus, Sceloporus, 3, 23, 25, 26