. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. 1030 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. known from the valley of Mexico. I took three specimens at the lake of Xochimilco and at Chapultepec, and Dr. Duges sent me a fourth from Guanajuato. Mr. Bocourt sent a fifth from some part of Mexico to the National Museum. These all differ from the type of E. , which is also from the valley of Mexico, in the general indistinctness of their markings and in the absence of the parietal spots.
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. 1030 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. known from the valley of Mexico. I took three specimens at the lake of Xochimilco and at Chapultepec, and Dr. Duges sent me a fourth from Guanajuato. Mr. Bocourt sent a fifth from some part of Mexico to the National Museum. These all differ from the type of E. , which is also from the valley of Mexico, in the general indistinctness of their markings and in the absence of the parietal spots. On loss of the epidermis the markings come out, except the parietal spots. This is a water snake in its habits, but spends much of its time on the banks. My friend, Mr. Julius Flohr, of the City of Mexico, took me ou a boating excursion on the lake of Xochimilco, near that city, and I had the opportunity of observing the habits of this snake and of compar- ing them with those of the U. melanogaster, which in- habits the same locality. On being disturbed, the E. macrostemma plunges into the water, but does not go far beneath the surface, but takes refuge under the edge of the bank, or emerges in a new spot, so that it is not difficult of capture. When a p - proached or caught it is very pugnacious. The habits of the E. melano- gaster are different. It, too, lies on the bank, but when it plunges it dives to the bottom and so effectually conceals itself that it can not be captured on that occasion. When caught it is much less i)ugnacious than the E. macrostemma. The columns that support the aqueduct that carries water from Chapultepec to the City of Mexico are covered with a dense vegetation, which is continuously watered by leaks in the venerable structure. On examining this vegetation at my height above the ground, I encountered in the thick of it a round eye. Exposure revealed first the head and then the body of a snake of this species, which found a congenial abode in that pos
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