184 BULLETIN 61, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



(2) graminea Cope. — Typical specimens of this phase may be 

 defined as follows: Above light green usually clouded with yellow. 

 Lateral spots not evidenced on scales, except occasionally anteriorly, 

 but present on the skin. Interspaces on the skin bright yellow. Belly 

 light green, often tinged with yellow. Dorsal and lateral stripes 

 absent. This form is very similar to the ordinatus phase except that 

 the ground color above is lighter, the dark spots are mostly absent 

 from the scales, and the lateral stripe is not discernable. But, as in 

 ordinatus, all intermediates are found between this color phase and 

 that of typical sirtalis. In specimens in which the ground color is 

 somewhat darker the dorsal stripe is indicated by a lighter shade on 

 more or less of the three median dorsal rows, the lateral by a similar 

 shade on the second and third rows. 



This color phase is very striking, and to one not familiar with the 

 variability of the form it would seem quite desirable to recognize it as 

 a distinct form, the more so as it is apparently common in many 

 localities. From the proportion of specimens in the collections it 

 seems to occur principally in eastern Ohio, becoming rarer in the 

 western part of the State, but extending into eastern Indiana. 



(3) paUidula Allen. — But little attention has been given to this 

 phase since its original description. It may be described as follows: 

 Ground color above dark. Spots obscured on scales. Stripes dull 

 greenish or bluish, the dorsal more or less obscure. This form differs 

 from ordinatus only in the obscurity of the lateral spots and the dark- 

 ness (often amounting to partial obscurity) of the stripes. It has 

 been recorded from the vicinity of Intervale and Bartlett, New 

 Hampshire, but the University of Michigan Museum expedition 

 secured specimens on Isle Koyale, Lake Superior, that are indistin- 

 guishable from the topotypes of pallidula in the National Museum. 



(4) semifasciata Cope. — The character upon which this form has 

 been distinguished is very slight and strikingly like the one upon 

 which the form T. eques collaris was based. In the specimens referred 

 to semifasciata the first two to five spots of the two rows between 

 the lateral and dorsal stripes are opposite and confluent transversely, 

 forming blotches that may or may not cross the lateral stripe. This 

 coloration occurs very frequently in specimens in and immediately about 

 the ''prairie peninsula," in Indiana, Illinois, southern Michigan, and 

 southern Wisconsin, and apparently much less commonly to the east 

 and south of this region. But not all of the specimens from this region 

 exhibit this tendency, toward the fusion of the lateral spots into 

 transverse bands anteriorly, in the same degree. Many individuals 

 are found which either have but one or two or even no blotches, and 

 it is evident that the character is far from being a constant one. It 

 is significant that the region where this color phase is best developed 

 is close to the range of parietalis, wliich often exhibits the same 

 phenomenon. 



