174 



BULLETIN 17 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Zion National Park (Woodbury, 1928, p. 20); Green River (Ruthven, 



1932, p. 4). 

 Colorado: Mesa County, Fruita (Ellis and Henderson, 1913, p. 94); Moffat 



County, Douglas Spring (Ellis and Henderson, 1915, p. 262). 

 Idaho: Oneida County, Preston (Pack, 1919, p. 16). 



Habits and habitat. — The habits of this form are undoubtedly 

 similar to those of the allied forms, catenifer and annectens, except that 

 deserticola is typically a desert inhabitant, though found elsewhere. 



Merriam, in Stejneger (1893, p. 207), reports finding one of these 



0.170 

 0.165 

 0.160 

 0.155 



0.150 

 0.145 

 0.140 

 0.135 

 0.130 

 0.125 

 0.120 

 0*115 



Resion No. 12 3 4 5 6 



Figure 77.— Geographic variation in ratio of tail length to total length in Pituophis catenifer deserticola. 



snakes "among the tree yuccas along the edge of the Larrea belt, at 

 an altitude of 1,340 meters (4,400 feet)." 



Meek (1906, p. 15) took one specimen "from the nest of a Neotoma" 

 and another "from the burrow of Spermophilus leucurus." 



Taylor (1912, p. 354) says: "The gopher snake undoubtedly occurs 

 generally in small numbers over the deserts of northern Nevada, and 

 to some extent on the broad flats of the mountains" and reports 

 finding one example "in sagebrush on the ground not far from the 

 creek near the Dugout Camp, Big Creek Canyon." 



Richardson (1915, p. 427) records finding one specimen "on top of 

 a rat's nest {Neotoma sp.) where it lay coiled. Its stomach contained 



