FIELDIANA . ZOOLOGY Published by CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM -Volume 34 MARCH 15, 1956 No. 39 A NEW SNAKE OF THE GENUS TANTILLA FROM WEST TEXAS SHERMAN A. MINTON, JR. INDIANA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Among some 300 reptiles and amphibians collected in Trans-Pecos Texas is an apparently undescribed snake of the genus Tan-tilla. It is sufficiently distinct from other members of the genus to warrant description, although it is represented in the collection by only a single specimen. In preparation of this description I have profited from the helpful advice of Hobart M. Smith, of the University of Illinois, and Philip W. Smith, of the Illinois Natural History Survey. The new form is to be known as: Tantilla cucullata 1 sp. nov. Type. Chicago Natural History Museum no. 74384, adult male from six miles south-southeast of Alpine, Brewster County, Texas, at an elevation of about 5,000 feet. Collected by S. A. Minton, Jr., on July 1, 1955. Diagnosis. A Tantilla with an almost uniformly black head, the pigmentation including the chin and labials and terminating 3 to 4 scales posterior to the parietal; no light nuchal collar; mental barely in contact with anterior chin-shields; ventrals 167, subcaudals 82. Description of type. Head somewhat depressed, slightly but distinctly wider than the neck; snout wide, rounded when seen from above, projecting slightly beyond the lower jaw. Rostral slightly wider than high, visible when viewed from above; internasals smaller than prefrontals, common internasal suture about half the length of the common prefrontal suture; greatest length of frontal almost twice the common prefrontal suture; common parietal suture about two-thirds of the length of the frontal; posterior tips of parietals separated by a single rhomboid scale. Nasal almost 1 From cucullus, a hood, referring to the form of the black head pigmentation. No -789 449 A?R l 1955
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