VARIATIONS OF GAKTER-SNAKES. 141 



Lake, Camp Bidwell, San Joaquin River (altitude 8,100 feet), Eldo- 

 rado, Kern Lake, Kern River, Mount Whitney, North Fork Kern 

 River, Whitney Creek (Crab Tree Meadow), Whitney Creek (9,000 

 feet below Whitney Meadows), Alount Whitney (Hot Springs, alti- 

 tude 8,000 feet), Owens Valley, Lone Pine, Owens River (altitude 

 6,000 feet), Morro, Baird, Pit Canyon, California; Goose Lake, 

 between Warner and Goose Lakes, Fort Klamath, Klamath Lake, 

 Camp Warner, Dallas, Oregon; Fort Walla W^alla, Wasliington. 



If elegans were generally distributed over the region in which it is 

 found its range of habitat could scarcely be exceeded in the western 

 half of the North American continent, as the region which it inhabits 

 includes on the one hand the arid plains of the Proplateau region, 

 and on the other the snow-cappetl peaks of the Rocky and Sierra 

 Nevada-Cascade ranges, but, altliough the data at hand on the 

 habitat distribution of the form is very meager, evidence is not 

 wanting that it is not of general distribution in the region which it 

 occupies. From what is known of its habits it is not surprising 

 to find that the range of elegans, as shown by the above localities, 

 is principally confined to the higher elevations, where there are 

 perennial streams. The prol)a])le limits of its range can thus be 

 discussed. 



As it is found on the Proplateau in southern Nevada, it may be 

 found on the mountain ranges of the same feature in southern Arizona, 

 New Mexico, and Texas. Van Denburgh (1897, 211) writes that 

 it ''is known to live on both slopes of the Sierra Nevada throughout 

 the whole length of the chain." T believe this to ])e true, although 

 not in the sense meant by Van Denburgh, for we nuist include speci- 

 mens formally referred to elegans in order to establish its presence 

 on the west side of the Sierra Nevadas. It has been recorded several 

 times from east of the high plateau region, but none of these records 

 are trustworth}'. The specimen found at Chicago," while imdoubt- 

 edly an elegans, unquestionably reached there accidentally. 



Taylor (1892, 326) records specimens from Gage, Nemaha, and 

 Sheridan counties, Nebraska, but these localities are so much farther 

 east than any other authentic records for the form that thev must 

 be seriously questioned until conlirmed. Branson (1904, 366) 

 states that ''this snake is ((uite rare in the western part of Kansas. 

 None have been reported from the eastern part." As he gives no 

 localities, however, and I have neither seen a single specimen from 

 this State, nor know of an authentic record, I consider the specimen 

 from Colorado as representing the known eastern limit of the range 

 of elegans in this latitude; the more so as the western border of 

 Kansas is some distance east of the contour line of 5,000 feet, which 

 may be considered as marking the eastern boundary of the high 



a Compare Ruthven, 1904, 291. 



