:298 Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History. 



sals. Frontal pentagonal or subhexagonal. Loreal preseut. 

 One large anteorbital. Two postorbitals. Eye moderate in 

 size. Seven supralabials, eye over the third and fourth, sixth 

 largest, the succeeding plates rapidly decreasing in size. Dor- 

 sal scales in twenty-one rows. Ventrals 200-224. Subcau- 

 dals 41-52. 



Color above black, with transverse yellow lines, which may 

 be very narrow and not extend downwards on the flanks, or 

 may be so wide as to give the prevailing color and bifurcate on 

 the flanks, thus producing a dorsal series of large black or 

 brown areas and another smaller lateral one for each side. 

 Sometimes with a yellow dot on most of the dorsal scales. 

 Beneath yellow, with squarish blotches of black. Mostly de- 

 void of black beneath the head and neck; sometimes nearly 

 black posteriorly from union of the blotches. Head black 

 above, dotted with yellow. Supralabials and infralabials black- 

 edged. 



Throughout the State. Rare north, moderately common 

 in the south part. Peoria (Brendel), Wabash and Richland 

 counties (Ridgway), Anna and Dug Hill in Union county. 



Variety getulus. 



With from twenty-five to thirty-five transverse yellow 

 lines which bifurcate on the flanks and divide the black of the 

 dorsal surface into several series of large blotches. Most of 

 the scales of the blotches uniformly black. This variety has 

 not, to my knowledge, been found in Illinois. 



Variety sayi. 



Black, with more than sixty transverse yellow lines, some- 

 times mostly lacking, which, as a rule, do not bifurcate on the 

 flanks. Sometimes most of the dorsal scales have a central 

 yellow dot. This variety represents the species in the State. 

 The young ma}^ be taken occasionally under logs in southern 

 Hlinois. I have not collected it north of Union county, but Dr. 

 Brendel reports it from Peoria, and Dr. Hoy has taken it in Wis- 

 consin, so that it may be looked for anywhere within our 

 borders. 



