The King Snakes 



Red rings widest ; yellow rin^s bordered b>r equal-sized rings of 

 black. This is much the smaller of the ringed King Snakes. 

 SCARLET KING sx-^ke; "cor.\l SNAKE," O. doUalus cocciiieus. 

 Distribution. — North Carolina to Florida; westward to the 

 Mississippi. 



III. Pattern : Red or brownish blotches on a pale ground. 



a. Blotches wide. 



Yellowish, with red (black-bordered) blotches extending to 

 the first row of scales. 



SOUTHEEN MILK SNAKE, O. doliatus (typical). 

 DistribtUion. — Maryland to Florida; westward to Texas. 

 Yellow or gray, with red or brown (black-bordered), blotches 

 reaching the third row of scales; small, alternating blotches 

 on sides. red milk snake, O. doliatus clericus. 



Distribution. — Southern New Jersey to North Carolina; 

 westward to Illinois. 

 Yellow or gray, with brownish (black-bordered) blotches reach- 

 ing to about fifth row of scales; smaller blotches on sides. 



MILK snake; house snake, O. doliatus triangulus. 

 Distribution. — The New England States to North Carolina ; 

 ' westward to Wisconsin. 



b. Blotches small and oblong. 



Pale brown, with darker brown blotches on back and a 

 smaller series on sides. .Vo bands on top of head. 



brown king snake, O. rhontbotnaculatus. 



Distribution. — Maryland to South Carolina ; westward to the 



Allegheny Mountains. 



Brownish-gray, with dark brown blotches (black-bordered) on 



back and smaller blotches on sides ; usually a band across, and 



lengthwise on top of head. 



YELLOW-BELLIED KING SNAKE, O. CalHgaSter. 



Distribution. — Minnesota to northern Texas; eastward to 

 Indiana and westward to Kansas. 



IV. Pattern : Pale and narrow transverse bands on a darker ground. 

 Black, brown or green, with yellow or white transverse bands 



which fork and join one another on side in chain-like fashion. 



CHAIN snake; COMMON KING &ii AKE, O. get ulus. 



Distribution. — Southern New Jersey to Florida; westward 

 to Louisiana. 

 Black or brown with white or yellow transverse bands which 

 widen on sides. boyle's king snake, O. getulus boylii. 



DistribtUion. — California, Arizona and Nevada. 

 Appeals to the former, but many of the rings are broken and in- 

 terspersed with short stripes. 



CALIFORNIA KING SNAKE, O. getulus califomics. 

 Distribution. — Southern California; Lower California. 



V. Pattern: A pale spot in the centre of each scale. 



Black, with a yellow, green or white spot in the centre of each 

 scale. say's king snake, O. getulus sayi. 



Distribution. — Southern Illinois through the southern plains 

 region, and south to Louisiana and western Texas. 



As has hitherto been the custom in this work, the arrange- 

 ment of species in the key has been guided solely by the idea 

 to group them in a fashion that may be used in hasty identifi- 

 cation — not from the standpoint of technical classification. This 

 has been the case with the King Snakes, as their peculiar patterns 



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