Beptiles and Amphibians of TlUnois. 285 



Two nasals. Loreal present. One large superior and a very 

 small inferior anteorbital. Two postorbitals. Eye large. Body 

 long, slender; head distinct; tail long. 

 Large active species. 



Coluber constrictor, Linn. Black Snake, Blue Racer, 



( ■nhiln'i- roust ri.ctor, Linn., Syst. Nat., 1758, ed. 10, 1., p. 2IH.— Storer 



Best. Jour. Nat. Hist., 1840, III., p. 27.— Ilolbr. N. A. Herp. 



1842, III., p. 55, pi. 11.— DeKay, Nat. Hist. N. Y., I., Zool! 



III.. Kept, and Amph., 1842, p. 35, pi. 10, iig. 20. 

 Ji(ix(;(iiii<)ii constrictor. Bd. and Gir., Cat. N. A. Kept., Pt. I., 1853, 



p. 93.— Kenn., Trans. 111. State Agr. .See, 1853-54, 1., p. 592. 

 i'ornphodoii constrictor, Duin, et Bibr., Erp. Gen., VII., 1854, 



p. 183. 

 lidscduiiuii constrictor, Davis and llice, Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. 



Hist., I.. No. 5, 1883, p. 38; Bull. Chicago Acad. Sci., 1883. 

 Colnlitr (■on.strir:tnr,S. Garman, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., 1883, 



pp. 41, 146, pi. 4, fig. .'). 



Large. Body long and slender. Head elongate, clearly 

 marked off from the body, front convex, sides channeled. Eye 

 large. Tail long and tapering. Rostral plate strongly convex, 

 angulate between the internasals. Frontal large, elongate, its 

 lateral margins incurved. Supraciliaries jutting over the eyes. 

 Nostril large. Two nasals of about equal size. One or two 

 loreals. Two anteorbitals, sometimes but one, the superior very 

 large, vertically elongate and expanded above: inferior plate 

 small. Two postorbitals. Seven supralabials, the fourth, sixth 

 and seventh largest. Nine infralabials, the fifth much the 

 largest, the eighth and ninth very small. Dorsal scales in 

 seventeen rows: large, all perfectly smooth. Ventrals, 172-1U(). 

 Anal divided. Subcaudals in 89-110 pairs. 



Color above uniform deep blue-black or olive-brown, slate- 

 gray or greenish white beneath. Inferior portions of all the 

 supralabials pale. Head olive-brown above. Pupil with a nar- 

 row coppery ring. Iris nearly all black. The colors of the 

 young are entirely different. Tn specimens of a foot long there 

 is a dorsal series of dark brown blotches, and below these on 

 each side numerous small brown spots. Beneath gray, with 

 numerous round or lunate black spots toward the sides. Head 

 olive-brown above, the plates edged and marked with black. 

 Tail uniform brown above, paler below. 



