28. COLUBER 671 
Parral, Ensenada, San Ignacio, Santa Rosalia, and San Luis 
Gonzales Bay, in the northern part of the peninsula, and at 
Cape San Lucas, La Paz, San José del Cabo, Miraflores, San 
Pedro, Triunfo, San Bartolo, Agua Caliente, and Todos 
Santos, in the Cape Region, on Santa Margarita Island, on 
the west coast, and on San Jose, Monserrate, Coronado, 
Ildefonso, and Tiburon islands in the Gulf of California. 
Habits——The “Red Racer,” like its relatives, is remark- 
able for the quickness of its movements. It climbs trees 
and bushes with great agility. Grinnell & Grinnell give the 
following notes on its habits: 
“According to our experience the Red Racer is an inhabi- 
tant exclusively of the hot gravelly washes along the bases 
of the mountains. As with most of our snakes, it was more 
common ten or fifteen years ago than now. Yet within the 
past year, 1906, we know of three having been seen in the 
arroyo near Pasadena. 
“The Red Racer is possessed of remarkable powers of 
locomotion, far exceeding in this respect any others of our 
snakes. And yet to the onlooker this rapidity of movement 
is accomplished with very little apparent effort. There is a 
very inconspicuous undulatory bending of the body; none 
of the violent squirming exhibited by a garter snake or king 
snake. One catches sight of a Red Racer generally after it 
is in motion. Perhaps it is seen gliding quickly across an 
open piece of ground between bushes. If one catches 
glimpses of portions of the snake’s body between the plant 
stems, it is only to see them rapidly diminish in diameter 
until they disappear entirely. The impression is given all 
along the line that the snake is growing quickly smaller, 
like some stereopticon effect. This illusion leaves one with 
a sense of bewilderment often lasting long enough to result 
in all trace of the snake being lost. Sometimes the racer will 
