Number 150 April 26, 1924 



OCCASIONAL PAPERS OF THE MUSEUM OF 

 ZOOLOGY 



UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 

 Ann Arbor, Michigan Published by the University 



A NEW SNAKE OF THE GENUS ARIZONA^ 



By Frank N. Blanchard 



It has been apparent to the writer for some time that the 

 snakes long referred to Arizona elegans comprise two races 

 sufficiently well-marked in appearance and distribution to be 

 designated by separate names. Kennicott's type of A. elegans^ 

 came from the lower Rio Grande, Texas, and belongs to the 

 race occurring from about the ninety-eighth meridian in Texas 

 west through northeastern ^Mexico and New Mexico into south- 

 eastern Arizona. For the other race I propose the name 



Arizona elegans occidentalis, new subspecies 



Diagnosis: Similar to A. elegans elegans (Kemiicott), but 

 with fewer dorsal scale rows, more numerous and narrower 

 dorsal blotches, with the lateral spots narrow or indistinct, and 

 with relatively shorter tail. 



Type Specimen : United States National Museum No. 54372; 

 La Jolla, California; collected by J. C. Thompson, May, 1916. 



^ Contribution from the Zoological Laboratorj- of the University of 

 Michigan. 



2 United States National Museum Xo. 1722, Mexican Boundary Survey, 

 Beptiles, p. 18, pi. 13. 



