298 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. ne 



shows no dorsal spotting caudad of the neck region and has a very low 

 subcaudal count (see Milstead, 1953). Reduction of posteriodorsal 

 dark spots has been observed in specimens from Farmington, San 

 Juan County (UMMZ 6G973-4), and Pinos Altos, Grant County 

 (UMMZ 75626), New Mexico, but this reduction was not of the 

 magnitude seen in the Zuni snake. 



T. dorsalis is not as abundant as T. elegans in northwestern New 

 Mexico. It does not occur frequently in the pinyon- juniper associa- 

 tion and, therefore, is separated somewhat ecologically from T. 

 elegans. In addition to the Farmington specimens, others from 

 the Acoma Indian Reservation (UNMCV, specimen lost), Suwanee, 

 Valencia County (UNMCV 44, 117), Aztec (AMNH 5298), and junc- 

 tion of the Los Pinos and San Juan rivers, San Juan County (A. Harris, 

 in litt.), were taken below 6000 feet. Milstead's record (1953, p. 372) 

 from ten miles north of El Rita [sic], Rio Arriba County, is questionable; 

 I consider the specimens (UMMZ 84330) to be juveniles of T. elegans. 



Locality records: 



VALENCIA CO., 11.5 mi. SSE. Grants (CU 5053). 



Thamnophis elegans vagrans Baird and Girard 



Of all snakes represented in the Zuni region by a single geographic 

 race, T. elegans exhibits the greatest morphological variation and 

 widest range both geographically and altitudinally (fig. 3). Variation 

 is especially apparent in the number of ventral and subcaudal scutes 

 of both sexes (table 9). The means of these features approximate 

 those given by Fitch (1940, figs. 3, 4), but the ranges are greater 

 than his combined Arizona-New Mexico sample. Six specimens have 

 23 anterior scale rows and one has divided preoculars, traits which 

 Fitch (1940) considered rare in T. e. vagrans. 



Color pattern is subject to extremes of manifestation in the Zuni 

 population. Certain individuals are nearly uniform olive brown 

 dorsally with only a trace of the middorsal liglit stripe and dark dorsal 

 spots. Others are marked with brilliant lemon-yellow stripes and 

 clear black spots. In these the dark postparietal crescentic marks 

 are strikingly similar to those of T. dorsalis and may have been part of 

 the reason for misidentification in other studies. Black spots along 

 the belly midline are present in varying degrees. Although a great 

 variety of colors and patterns can be observed, no specimen possesses 

 the ash-gray ground color seen by me in T. e. vagrans in southern 

 Utah; all are some shade of brown. 



Juveniles usually are spotted distinctly, with the dorsal and lateral 

 light stripes reduced in intensity and the black nuchal crescents 

 clearly indicated. To my eye, juveniles are colored more cryptically 

 than adults, which are generally less spotted. There is apparently 



