BUTLER'S GARTER SNAKE. 293 



230 mm. Tail 60 mm. Color above olive brown, with two 

 alternate rows of black spots above the lateral stripe, and one 

 below ; the dorsal spots forming a broken border to the dorsal 

 stripe. Color below light olivaceous, sparsely 

 speckled with black, with a row of gastros- 

 tegeal spots on either side. The dorsal stripe 

 occupies the median and the two half rows of 



scales on either side ; anteriorly bright yellow, 



' butlen Lope. Ann 



it extends well up between the parietals ; pos- Arbor, Washtenaw 

 teriorly it fades out quickly to a greenish yel- Co., Michigan, Cat. 

 low, and loses its distinctness on the tail. No " 3 46 ' U " of M ' 



Museum. 



Color below the lateral stripe the same as 

 above, olive brown. Lateral stripes anteriorly bright sulphur 

 yellow, broad, occupying all of the third, the upper half of 

 the second and the lower half of the fourth rows of dorsal scales 

 on the anterior half of the body. On the posterior half they 

 occupy exclusively the second and third rows to the vent ; but 

 they never descend below the middle of the second row ; at 

 the vent they widen out to cover part of the first, all of the 

 second and third, and all of the fourth rows ; posteriorly to 

 the vent, olive in color, occupying but one row of scales, the 

 first, and becoming more and more indistinct toward the end of 

 the tail. 



Anteriorly the lateral stripe expands to form a large yellow 

 patch' on either side of the neck, in which occur two black spots 

 one on the right side, and one on the left. These spots are contin- 

 uations of the row below the lateral stripe. There is also a black 

 spot, just above the sixth supralabial, that is prolonged in front 

 to the lower edge of the upper postocular. Above the black 

 line formed by the continuation of this spot, the head is uniformly 

 brownish olive, with the exception of a black patch on the 

 parietals in which are located the prominent bright yellow parietal 

 spots. The supralabials are dusky yellow, narrowly margined 

 with black ; the yellow extending up to the black line, thus 

 including the two lower postoculars, and part of the first tem- 

 poral. In front of the eye, the yellow of the supralabials ex- 

 tends onto the preocular, where it gradually fades into the olive- 

 brown of the top of the head. The eye is surrounded by a nar- 



