392 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1895. 



served. A study of Professor Boulenger's diagnosis of this species 1 

 corroborates my own observations and belief that individuals which 

 may be severally classed under the varietal synonyms alleghenien- 

 sis, lindheimeri, and spiloides may be found associated in both Caro- 

 linian and Austroriparian districts. As in the case of Natrix sipedon 

 these facts defy any attempt to define geographical races of obsoletus 

 or to apply names to them in the trinomial sense. 



Ophidians are not subservient to the same fixed laws of geographic 

 variation which apply to birds and mammals, and which have 

 enabled us to define with scientific exactness the faunal areas over 

 which they are distributed, to designate these races by trino- 

 mials, and even to predict the character of sub- specific variations in 

 a given area upon our knowledge of the physiographic and climatic 

 conditions there obtaining. Though recent attempts to classify the 

 North American Reptilia and Batrachia by the code of trinomial 

 nomenclature adopted by the American Ornithologists' Union has 

 in many cases been a failure, it is not improbable that when reptiles 

 are collected in large series, and at different seasons from continu- 

 ous areas of country we may be able in most cases to define geogra- 

 phic races on structural characters quite as constant as the superficial 

 ones afforded us by sub-species of birds and mammals. 



Specimens — Samburg, 2 ad., 1 juv. ; Chattanooga, 1 ad.; Allardt, 

 1 juv.; 1 ad. 



Genus OPHIBOLUS Baird, Girard. 



21. Ophibolus triangulus (Daud.). King Snake, Milk Snake. 



The only specimen taken has twenty- one dorsal scales and, in 

 nearly all minutiae, corresponds to Boulenger's description of trian- 

 gulus. It seems desirable and proper that these characters should 

 be considered sufficient to specifically separate this snake from the 

 doliatus of Linnaeus. In doing this Prof. Garman has made the 

 curious blunder of using the name doliatus of Baird and Girard 

 for a variety of triangulus. 



Specimen: Bellevue, 1 ad. 



22. Ophibolus getulus sayi (Holbr. ). Chain Snake. 



The only specimen is the dark phase of sayi with minute dots 

 on a black ground and a heavily blotched yellowish belly. The 

 distinctions between typical getulus of the east Carolinian district 



1 Cat. Snakes B. Mus., II, 1894, pp. 50, 51. 



