BRANSON : SNAKE3 OF KANSAS. 399 



teen. Loreal small. Temporals 2-2, rarely 1-2 or 2-3. Ocu- 

 lars 1-2. Pregeuials much longer than postgenials. Tail 

 short. Head litDle distinct. 



This species is very variable. It ranges from a spotted 

 brown snake to a snake with black and bright scarlet rings. 

 Cope (10. 88.3) distinguishes twelve varieties. In his classifi- 

 cation he has made many arbitrary distinctions. In some 

 instances the coloration of the anterior part of the body of 

 specimens that I have examined agrees with one of Cope's va- 

 rieties, and that of the posterior agrees with another. Occurs 

 throughout the state, but is less numerous than formerly. 



KEY TO KANSAS SUBSPECIKS. 



I. — An oblique yellow band behind eye O. doliaius triangulus- 



II. — No oblique band behind eye. 



a. Dorsal bands closed on or above the gastroateges. 



O. doliaius doliafus. 



h. Dorsal spots connected by a longitudinal black band. Black borders of 



dorsal spots forming rings around the body O. doliatus gentilis. 



Ophibolus doliatus triangulus Cope. 



Ophibohts exhiiKS Baird and Girard, Cat. N. .\mer. Rept., 1858, Pt. I, Serp., 



p. 87. 

 Ophibolus doliatus triangulus Cope, Check-list N. Amer. Batr. Rept., 1875, 



p. M. 

 Osceola doliata iriangu.ki Cope, Rept. Nat. Mus., p. 885. 

 Cornelia iriang ulutn Boulenger, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., II, 1894, p. 200. 



Fig. 23. 

 Ophibolus doliatu.s triangulus Cope. 



Scales smooth, in twenty-one rows; longer than is common 

 in these species. Frontal shield-shaped. Occipitals broad, 

 truncate. Superciliaries larger than in the other subspecies. 

 Prefrontals large, pentagonal, wider than long. Internasals 



4-Rull., No. la. 



