208 



VERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF THE UNITED STATES 



E. ohsoleta (Say) (Fig. 119). 



E. guttata (L.). Corn-snake. Length 1,000 mm.; tail 160 mm.; 

 greatest length 1,750 mm.; color reddish or yellowish brown, with a 

 dorsal series of about 54 large red, black-bordered blotches; belly white, 

 with black spots: south Atlantic and Gulf States from New Jersey to 

 Louisiana; common. 



Length 1,800 mm.; tail 300 mm.; 

 greatest length 2,400 mm.; color 

 black to gray, with the edges of 

 the scales often yellow, and often 

 a series of large dark dorsal 

 blotches; throat white; belly dark, 

 more or less blotched: Massa- 

 chusetts to the Gulf; westward to 

 Michigan and Texas; one of the 

 largest American snakes. 



Subspecies of E. ohsoleta 



E. 0. ohsoleta (Say). Pilot 

 blacksnake. Color uniform black: 

 northern States. 



E. 0. confinis (B. and G.). 

 Color gray, with large, irregular 

 dark dorsal spots and smaller 

 lateral spots: south Atlantic and 

 Gulf States; Missouri. 



E. vulpina (B. and G.). Fox- 

 snake. Length 1,150 mm. ; tail 200 

 mm.; color brown or yellowish, with a series of dark brown blotches 

 which alternate with a lateral series on each side; belly yellow, with 

 dark spots; head often reddish: Ohio to Minnesota; southward to the 

 Missouri; often common, feeding on rats round barns; they often 

 emit a fox-like odor. 



12. Drymobius Fitzinger. Medium sized tropical snakes allied to 

 our racers (Coluher) ; scales keeled, in 17 rows; anal plate divided; upper 

 labials 9, 3 entering the orbit; a single preocular present: 4 species in 

 tropical America, i reaching Texas. 



D. margartiferus (Schlegel). Length about 1,000 mm.; color black, 

 with a green spot on each scale: Brownsville, Texas. 



13. Drymarchon Fitzinger (Spilotes Wagler). Large tropical, 

 non-poisonous snakes with a simple anal plate and smooth scales; 

 upper labials 8; color shining black, above and below: i species. 



Fig. 119. — Elaphe obsolela (from Cope). 



