The Rat Snakes or Colubers 



Disiribution. — Western portion of the Central Region 

 — west of the Mississippi. Kansas to Mexico. 

 b. Blotches crimson or blackish on reddish ground-color. 

 Black-bordered head stripes. Keddish with crimson 

 blotches. Abdomen boldly tessellated with black and 

 white. RED coluber; corn snake, C guttaius. 



Distribution. — Southeastern U. S. 

 **Blotches rather obscure. 



Head black. Skin between the scales brick red. 

 Blotches black. Edges of scales between the 

 blotches, yellow. 

 lindheimer's coluber, C. obsoletus, variety lindheimeri. 

 Distribution. — Texas. 

 B. Black — no blotches. 



Edges of the scales sometimes white or yellow. Skin 

 between the scales often brick red. 



PILOT BLACK SNAKE; BLACK COLUBER, C. obsolctUS, typical. 



Distribution. — Eastern U. S. 

 C Four dark stripes on a pale ground. 



Yellow or olive, with four brown or black stripes. 



FOUR-BANDED COLUBER; YELLOW CHICKEN SNAKE, C. obsO- 



[leius, variety qtiadrivittatus. 

 Distribution. — Southeastern U. S. < 



In the detailed descriptions herewith given, the student 

 should carefully note the peculiar colour transformation from 

 the young to the adult state, of several of the species. The 

 change is so complete that young individuals are very confusing 

 unless their status is understood. 



THE FOX SNAKE; RED-HEADED COLUBER 

 Coluber vulptnus, (B. &. G.) 



Stoutest of the Colubers. The tail is very stout, but tapers 

 abruptly to a sharp point. The scales are distinctly, though 

 not heavily, keeled. Attains a length of five or six feet. 



Colouration. — Pale brown or yellowish, with a series of large, 

 rich brown blotches on the back and a series of smaller, alter- 

 nating blotches on the sides; beneath the latter and at the edges 

 of the abdominal plates, is a yet smaller series. The abdomen 

 is yellow, with numerous dusky spots. 



There are no head bands and the head is often tinged with 

 ruddy yellow or reddish. 



Dimensions. — Specimens six feet long have been recorded, 

 but the writer finds the average of a large series of specimens 



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