CROCODILIANS, LIZARDS, AND SNAKES. 



869 



embracing four scales, while the blotches themselves cover six scales. 

 The Hanks are blotched but very irregularly ; ou the anterior region of 

 the body the blotches elongate in the shape of longitudinal bands or 

 vittffi; on the middle region three indistinct series may be traced, alter- 

 nating and often confluent by their corners; posteriorly there is only 

 one series opposite to the dorsal, and often confluent with it, so that 

 the corresponding blotches form single patches, extending from the 

 back to the abdomen, and tapering on the sides. The abdomen is dull 

 yellow, with a series of distant blackish brown patches along the extrem- 

 ity of the scutelhe, often extending to the outer row of scales. 



Specimens from Florida have the dark colors, rusty or rufous, instead 

 of deep brown or black, and the outlines of the spots are not so well 

 defined. 



This species ranges from New Jersey to Florida, preferring the sandy 

 pine woods of the coastal plain. It is the largest snake of this region. 

 It is of a very harmless disposition, and may be handled with impunity. 



Pityophis melanoleucus Daudin. 



PITYOPHIS SAYI Schlegel. 



riUjophis sat/i Baird .ind (iiUAKD, Cat. N. Ainer. Kept., Pt. 1, Serpents, 1853, p. 



151.— Cope, Check-list N. Amer. Batr. Kept. , 1875, p. 39. 

 Coluber melanoleucus Boulenger, part, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., II, 1894, p. 68. 

 Coluber sayi Schlegel, part, Ess. Physionomie des Serpents, 1837, p. 157. 



Head with the rostral plate more or less prominent forward and pro- 

 duced and narrowed upward and posteriorly. Su])erior labial plates 8-8 

 to 9-9. Scales in from twenty-seven to thirty-three rows, keeled, except 

 six rows on each side. Dorsal spots more numerous than in P. melano- 

 leucus, yarymg from fifty to sixty-five on the body, sometimes as few as 

 forty. Two to three rows of spots on each side. Generally no subcau- 

 dal stri])e. Head with three bands, one extending between the orbits, 

 one from the orbit directly downward to the labial border, and one from 

 the orbit to the angle of the mouth. Temporal scales small, generally 

 3-3 to 4-4, rarely 2-2. 



This species oc(Hipios the entire interior of the TTnited States and the 

 Mexican plateau to the valley of Mexico. Eastward it crosses the Mis- 

 sissippi River into the i)rairie country of Illinois. It is represented by 

 two forms, which only ditfer in tlic form of the rostral plate. One of 

 these {P. s. bellona) inhabits Arizona and New Mexico only, and is 



