Lampropeltis tr]angulum elapsoides (Holbrook) Southern King 



Snake 

 (Osceola elapso-idea of Cope) 

 Greatest number of scale rows 21 or more; one or more normal loreals 

 present on each side 113. 



113. Red not continuous on the belly; black bands usually spreading into the 



yellow ones on the mid-line of the belly; yellow bands above usually 

 wider than the black ones; S. D. to Ariz, and Texas 



Lampropeltis triangulum gentilis (B. ^ G.) Western King 



Snake 

 (Ophibolus dohata gentilis (B. ^ G.) ) 

 With red rings around belly; yellow and black bands about the same 

 width above; lower Mississippi Valley, Okla. and Texas 



Lampropeltis triangulum amaura (Cope) ) Scarlet King Snake 

 (Ophibolus dohata coccineus (Schlegel) ) 



114. Back with narrow cross blotches barely or not reaching the fifth row of 



scales on each side up from the ventral plates 115. 



Back with wide blotches in broad contact with a fifth or lower row of 



scales 116. 



115. With 23 or less rows of scales around the body; head markings are a 



dark streak on each side from behind the eye to the angle of the jaw; 

 dark blotches on the back obscure and wider in the middle; with 

 smaller obscure blotches on the sides; Maryland to Fla. and Ala. 



Lampropeltis rhomhomaculata (Holbrook) Mole King Snake 

 With 25 or more rows of scales around the body; head with a dark band 

 across the front, a dark patch in the center, and a dark streak on each 

 side from behind the eye to the angle of the jaw; dark blotches on the 

 back distinct and wider at the sides; with smaller blotches on the 

 sides; Wis. to Kentucky, Miss, and Texas 



Lampropeltis calligaster (Harlan) Yellow-bellied King Snake 



116. With small, dark, alternate blotches (below the large, central blotches) 



on the scales above the ventral plates, sometimes with another row 

 along each side of the ventral plates; Iowa eastward and northward, 

 and southward in the Appalachians 



Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum (Lacepede) Checkered 



Adder, Milk or House Snake 

 (Ophibolus dohata triangulum (Lacepede) ) 

 With small, dark, alternate blotches (below the large central blotches) 

 along each side of the ventral plates 117. 



117. With the large central blotches reaching down on each side almost to the 



ventral plates; Minn, to Okla. and Tenn. 



Lampropeltis triangidum syspila (Cope) Western Milk Snake 

 (Ophibolus dohata syspila (Cope) ) 

 With the large, central blotches reaching down on each side on to the 

 sides of the ventral plates; N. J. to Maryland and Del. 



Lampropeltis triangulum temporalis (Cope) Southern Milk 

 Snake 



118. With red, black and yellow rings completely encircling the body, the 



yellow being adjacent to the red; with rigid poison fangs in the front 



408 



