168 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Mar., 



9. Lampropeltis getulus getulus (Linn.): King Snake; Common King Snake; Chain Snake; 

 Ttiunder Snake; Thunder and Lightning Snake; Wamper; Wampum Snake; Rattlesnake 

 Pilot. Plate III, fig. 2; fig. 10. 



Thirteen specimens of this fine snake were taken and many more 

 seen. It is common throughout the drier parts of the swamp and 

 frequents the outskirts of the swamp as well. It keeps to the islands 

 and none were taken in other situations than the saw palmetto or 

 heath societies of the piney woods where it courses through the low 

 cover after its living prey or eggs. Okefinokee swamp comes within 

 the supposed range of L. g. getulus and is considerably east of Louis- 

 iana where L. g. sayi is recorded. The nearest records of L. g. 

 getulus are from Fernandina, Fla. (C. F. Batchelder), Gainesville, 

 Fla. (J. Bell), and Nashville, Ga. (W. J. Taylor). 



Coloration. — Most of the specimens at hand vary from a light to 

 a deep brown. Five are shining blackish-brown in body color, but 

 these are among the smallest specimens of the collection. All thirteen 

 have white or yellowish cross-bands which may be from 23-25 in 

 number on the body proper, rarely as low as 18, and from 5-10 on 

 the tail. Often these bands are incomplete and appear only on one 

 side with none corresponding on the other side, and frequently in 

 such specimens the cross-bands may be diagonal — not strict cross- 

 bands; in many of the specimens the bifurcations on the sides are 

 absent and the cross-band scales of the dorsum have dark body color 

 tips which at times so blacken the scales as to interrupt the bands 

 completely. In one specimen the band was very indistinct. These 

 bands are normally 1^-2 scales wide on the dorsum or rarely 2, rarely 

 3-5 scales wide on the sides where the bands bifurcate bordering a 

 spot of body color. These lateral spots alternate with similar 

 dorsal areas and are from 3-7 scales wide and occupy the lower 

 2 or 3 rows of scales as well as the ends of 3-5 gastrosteges. The 

 dark dorsal areas are 7-10 scales wide; in some they are a beautiful 

 shining black or deep brown; in two or three of the specimens each 

 scale of the cephalic half of the body has a pale central spot; in three 

 specimens with shining black body color the first four to six dark 

 areas back of the head had patches of scales with white centres as 

 conspicuous as the cross bands themselves (suggestive of L. g. splen- 

 didus); finally one brown (No. 6,218) king snake has all the scales 

 with every centre of the same intensity of color as the conspicuous 

 cross-bands (very suggestive of L. g. sayi). The venter is of the 

 same color as the cross-bands and is heavily blotched with black 

 due in part to the extension of the lateral spots on the gastrosteges. 

 All the head plates are conspicuously marked with white or yellowish 



