BOYLE KING SNAKE 



641 



The Boyle King Snake or "milk snake" is a strikingly colored animal 

 with broad alternate bands of black and white crossing the back from the 

 head to the end of the tail ; these markings extend down the sides and onto 

 the under surface, but do not meet evenly on the belly. 



This species is a terrestrial snalce and is usually to be found in the 

 vicinity of thickets or other close vegetatioual cover. It does not affect 

 the pure chaparral on the drier slopes, nor does it ordinarily occur in 

 open grasslands. In general demeanor the Boyle King Snake is a quiet 

 reptile, its ordinary movements being slow and deliberate. However, it 

 bears the same reputation as the Coral King Snake, namely, that of using 

 other snakes for food when chance offers. 





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Fig. 63. (a) Boyle King Snake; Pleasant Valley, May 24, 1915. (b) California 

 Striped Racer; Pleasant Valley, May 27, 1915. Both photographed from freshly taken 

 specimens; about % natural size. 



California Striped Racer. Coluber lateralis (Hallo well) 



Field characters. — Body long and very slender; tail long, tapering to fine point; 

 scales of back all smooth (without ridges or keels), in 17 rows. General coloration 

 above dark brown; a sharply defined light line along each side the whole length of the 

 body. (See fig. 63&.) Under surface of body plain yellow. 



Occurrence. — Common resident in Upper Sonoran Zone where recorded from Pleasant 

 Valley east to Smith Creek, 6 miles east of Coulterville. Lives in chaparral country. 

 Climbs into bushes and often into trees. 



The California Striped Racer is a long, slender, smooth-bodied snake 

 remarkable for its speed and for its skill in climbing. Superficially it 

 bears somewhat of a resemblance to a garter snake, but the two differ in 

 several important ways. The racer has fewer scales: these, counted ift-ttr — -^ 



uj j L I B F? A R Y 



