36 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Jau., 



Tropidonotus sipedon fasciatus I- 



Coluber fasrAatus L., Syst. Nat., Ed. XII, 378 (1766); Nerodia fasci- 

 ata and N. erythrogaster B. and G., I. c, 39, 40; Natrix fnsciata 

 fascinta, N. f. x>leuraUs and N.f. crythrof/aster Co-pe, I. c, 673, and 

 Rep. Nat. Mas., 963, 973, 975; N.'f. pic'tieventris Cope, Am. Nat., 

 1895, 077, and Rep. Xat. Mus., 969 ; T. fasciatus (part) Boul., I. c, 

 I, 242. 



Size large; body stout; scales in 28 rows (raiely 25); upper 

 labials 8; oculars 1-3 (2); temi^rals 1-3; veutrals 125-155; 

 subcaudals 60-82. 



YelloAvisli, yellowish red, or In'own above, witli from twenty to 

 thirty darker trausverse bands on the back, narrowing on the sides, 

 and sometimes red spots on the sides ; sometimes the bands are more 

 or less broken posteriorly; belly Avhitish yellow or salmon color, 

 blotched with yellow, red or black; very often each ventral is mar- 

 gined all around with the darker shade; top of the head uniformly 

 dark, generally olive; an oblique dark streak behind the orbit; 

 labials margined with dark brown. Old specimens become very 

 dark. A large one from Georgia, now living in the Zoological 

 Gardens, is sooty black with traces of red markings on the flanks; 

 in this specimen the posterior third of the belly is almost wholly 

 black. Anolher from Florida has the body color brick red on 

 the back, becoming almost vermilion on the sides, the cross-bands 

 being reddish with a mixture of olive; the ventrals are yellow or 

 orange, mostly bordered all around with darker orange. This 

 merely fortuitous phase is jyictieventr is Cope." 



A young specimen, now in the Academy's collection, bred in 

 the Zoological Gardens from a typical fasciatus, shows at the age 

 of one day, transverse bands, posteriorly much broken up into 

 spots. With the darkening and consequent obscurity of color, 

 especially along the dorsal area, Avhich results from age, this speci- 

 men would develop the pattern attributed to jileural is Cope. 



I have no knowledge of small individuals of erythrogaster Shaw, 

 and there is not the least "doubt in my mind that this form is again 

 the result of darkening with age of the red specimens of fasciatus 

 described above; although it may be that some northern examples 

 should be referred to T. s. sipedon. 



The largest of this subspecies which I have seen, measured 1270 

 mm. (tail 300). 



Hab. — Virginia to Florida and west to Texas. 



'* This identification is given on the anthority of Prof. Cope, who declared 

 that this specimen belonged to his new subspecies. 



