310 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. iie 



belt, gopher snakes were encountered in open pinyon-juniper savannas. 

 Two individuals came from a choUa-juniper section of the Plains- 

 Roughlands ecotone, where they were secreted in pack rat nests 

 built among Indian Ruins. A juvenile, 385 mm. total length, col- 

 lected July 23, 1957, at 7100 feet, was undoubtedly a hatchling as it 

 had a fresh yolk-sac scar. 



Of the variety of food items palpated from newly caught specimens, 

 Sceloporus undulatus, Peromyscus species, Neotoma species, Thomomys 

 bottae, and various passerine birds predominated. One gopher snake, 

 extracted by the tail from a gopher burrow at 10:35 a.m., was 

 coiled tightly around an adult Thomomys bottae. Juveniles sometimes 

 fed upon lizards in the manner of a garter snake, i.e., without first 

 constricting their prey. 



Locality records: 



MCKINLEY CO.: 4 mi. S. Thoreau (CU 5611); 4 mi. NNE. Prewitt (CU 5589); 

 Ft. Wingate (USNM 8658, 16766-7); Black Rock (CWGF); Valencia co.: 6 mi. 

 SE. Grants (CU 5612); 8 mi. SE. Grants (UMMZ 8G632); 16 mi. S. Grants 

 (UMMZ 86631); 5 mi. SSW. U. S. Rt. 66 on N. M. Rt. 117 (CU 5769); 2.5 mi. 

 NE. Ramah (CU 5454); 2 mi. W. El Morro Nat. Mon. (CWGF); El Morro Nat. 

 Mon. (CWGF). 



Hypsiglena torquata texana Stejneger x //. t. ochrorhyncha Cope 

 X H. t. loreala Tanner 



In New Mexico, as throughout the Southwest, some subspecies of 

 H. torquata seem to me to be poorly defined. This fact and the paucity 

 of specimens from the Zuni region demand that the present intergrade 

 zone be considered provisional. Stebbins (1954, p. 492) has mapped 

 this zone, utilizing subspecies boundaries defined by Tanner (1944). 

 I Hkewise follow Tanner (1944) but with reservation, in light of the 

 preceding discussion. Bogert and Oliver (1945, pp. 378-381) and 

 others have presented evidence for lumping the species H. ochrorhyn- 

 cha under H. torquata. 



The Zuni snake, a male, has 172 ventrals, 47 subcaudals, 21-21-17 

 dorsal scale rows, 1-1 loreals, and approximately 49 large, dark body 

 blotches, all characteristic of H. torquata texana, while the Los Lunas 

 specimen, with about 52 body blotches, resembles H. torquata texana 

 in color-pattern and H. t. loreala or H. t. ochrorhyncha in having 15 

 dorsals posteriorly. UNMCV 79 is also intermecfiate; it has 2-2 loreals 

 as in H. t. loreala, 16 posterior dorsals, and about 69 small dorsal 

 blotches, similar in size (involving less than 20 scales) to those of 

 H. t. loreala or H. t. ochrorhyncha. Ventral scale counts of the three 

 specimens, 165, 172, and 177, approximate those of H. torquata texana 

 or possibly H. t. ochrorhyncha rather than H. i. loreala (see Tanner, 

 1944, table 2)s 



