108 



to Panama, and illustrates well the changes which a widely spread species 

 undergoes, when traced from one region to another. The changes con- 

 cern its size, squamation, its colors and the arrangement of these colors. 

 The head is small, little exceeding the diameter of the neck. The 

 loral is present, with rare exceptions, but it is small. Upper labials 7 ; 

 lower labials 9, occasionally 10. The eye is small and placed over the 

 third and fourth labials. The scales are in 21 rows. In a few cases 

 there may be only 19, and in rarer cases 21 rows. They are smooth. 

 The ventrals range from 184 to 214. The tail forms one-sixth or one- 

 seventh of the entire length. The ground color varies from red to red- 

 dish brown and to gray. The deeper colors appear as transverse rings, 

 complete or incomplete, or as saddle-shaped and irregular blotches. In 

 0. d. coccineus, a Southern variety, the color is red, and there are triple 

 rings entirely encircling the body. These consist of two rings of black 

 enclosing between them a ring of white or yellow. In Other varieties the 

 black rings of one set runs forward on the sides and joins the posterior 

 ring of the set in front. In this way the ground color becomes divided 

 up into a number of dorsal blotches or " saddles." At the same time the 

 hue of both the ground color and of those which relieve it undergo 

 change. 



Key to Indiana Varieties of 0. doliatus. 



General color red ; large blotches, or saddles of ground color formed 

 by rings of adjacent sets meeting on the ventral plates. doliatus. 



General color red ; blotches of ground color formed by the black rings 

 of adjacent sets meeting above the ends of the ventrals; single series of 

 black spots along middle of belly. syi^pihis. 



General color brownish-red or gray, with dorsal saddles not descend- 

 ing to the ventral plates. triangidiis. 



Ophibolus doliatus doliatus is bright red above, yellowish in alcohol. 

 Across the body there run from 20 to 30 triple rings, of which two black 

 ones enclose one of white or yellow. The black rings do not pass 

 entirely around the belly, but the anterior black ring of one set turns 

 forward on the ends of the ventral plate on each side and joins the pos- 

 terior black ring of the set in front. On the sides are spots alternating 

 with the dorsal blotches, and these do not meet on the belly. 



This variety probably does not attain a size greater than about two 

 feet. It is found principally in the Southern States, but has been 

 taken also in Indiana. I have seen specimens taken at New Harmony 

 (Sampson's coll.); Brown county (taken by Chas. Jameson); and Jack- 

 son county (Nor. Sch. coll.). The latter specimen had 23 rows of 

 scales, otherwise it was normal. Mr. Robt. Ridgway writes that it is 

 not uncommon about Wheatland ; Terre Haute (Blatchley) ; Lafayette 

 -(F. C. Test). 



