58 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Jau., 



Zameuis constrictor L. 



Coluber constrictor L., Sj-st. Nat., Ed. X, 216 (1758). 



Body slender with long tail; head scales normal; frontal rather 

 more than half the width of supraoculars, behind; two nasals; 

 one loreal; oculars 2-2; temporals 2-2 ; upper labials 7 (rarely 

 8); scales in 17 rows; ventrals 164-189; subcaudals 79-110. 



Length 1,525 mm. (tail one-fourth to one-fifth). 



Eastern specimens are black al)ove and slate color beneath ; west 

 of the Mississippi they are usually green or olive above, yellow 

 beneath. There are transitional stages between these extremes and 

 they are good subspecies : 



Size larger; black above, slate color beneath, 1. Z. c. constrictor-. 

 Size smaller; green or olive above; yellow beneath, 



2. Z. c. Jiaviventris. 



Zamenis constrictor constrictor I- 



I. c, 216; Bascanion constrictor B. and G., I. c, 93 ; B. constrictor 

 (part) Cope, I. c, 6i3 ; Zamenis constrictor (part) Boul., I. c, I, 

 387, and Cope, Rep. Nat. Mus., 791. 



Examples from the east are lustrous black above; belly slate 

 color; chin and throat white. One specimen from Pennsylvania 

 now living in the Zoological Gardens presents the curious anomaly 

 of a distinctly brown snout. In the western portion of its range 

 it becomes bluish or olive black and the belly gets lighter. The 

 young are unlike the adults, being gray, spotted or cross-banded 

 with darker. Ventrals 175-189; subcaudals 83-110. The length 

 of the largest I have seen was 1,470 mm. (tail 310). 



Hab. — United States east of the central plains; northern 

 Mexico. 



Zamenis constrictor flaviventris Say. 



Coliiher jhuilventrls S.iy, Long's Exp., IT, 185 (1823) ; Bascanion flavi- 

 ventris and B. vetustus B. and G., I. c, 96, 97 ; B. constrictor (part) 

 Cope, I. c, 623 ; Zamenis constrictor (part) Boul., I. c, I, 3S7, and 

 Cope, Kep. Nat. Mus., 791 ; B. c. vetustnm Van Den., I. c, 183 ; Z. 

 stejnegerianus Cope, Rep. Nat. Mus., 797. 



Size rather smaller and body more slender than in B. c. con- 

 strictor ; the scutellation is similar, but an eighth labial is more 

 fi-equentiy present; ventrals 164-188; subcaudals 79-95. 



Length about 1,100 mm. (tail rather more than one-fourth). 

 In examples from the plains the color is often bright green above 

 and bright yellow underneath; chin and throat paler yellow; such 

 specimens arc usual in Kansas and Oklahoma, ^yestward and on 



