The King Snakes 



THE SOUTHERN MILK SNAKE; RED KING SNAKE 

 Ophibolus doliaius, (Linn.) 



This reptile, supposed to be the ancestral form of the con- 

 fusing variations coming under the technical head of Ophibolus 

 doliaius, forms the connecting link between those varieties having 

 blotches or saddles of a reddish hue on the back, these enclosed 

 within a narrow black border, and the forms that are completely 

 ringed about the body with the black, the yellow and partially 

 or completely with the red. The typical form is smaller than 

 either of the preceding varieties. 



Colouration. — The red saddles are wider than with either 

 of the preceding varieties, the red reaching to the first row of scales 

 and the black extending over the edges oj the abdominal plates. The 

 smaller, alternating blotches contain little or no red, and extend 

 along the edges of the abdominal plates. 



The large blotches are usually rich scarlet, the spaces between 

 them either yellow or grayish white. Examined from directly 

 above, the snake appears to be marked with broad rings of scarlet 

 and narrower rings of yellow, bordered with black. The abdomen 

 is white or yellow, with numerous black blotches. The lower 

 borders of the larger blotches sometimes fuse into parallel black 

 bands on the abdomen — a phase of pattern eliciting the varietal 

 name parallelus, of Prof. Cope. 



The top of the head may be almost entirely black or reddish, 

 with a broad black band — with some specimens largely yellow. 

 Unlike the preceding varieties {triangiiliis and clericus) there is 

 no pale band from behind the eye to the angle of the mouth. 



Dimensions. — The general conformation is much like the 

 preceding forms, but this form is distinctly smaller in size. 



Distribution. — Maryland to Florida. In the northern portion 

 of the range — westward to Illinois. In the southern portion, 

 westward to Oklahoma and eastern Texas. 



WESTERN MILK SNAKE; RINGED KING SNAKE 



Ophibolus doliatus variety gentilis, (B. & G.) 



In the consideration of this variety, we observe another 



phase of variation away from the ancestral form. While the 



preceding varieties have inclined toward a constriction of the 



red blotches, thus presenting a more spotted appearance than the 



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