28. COLUBER 



Lower Californian specimens have been recorded from 

 San Ignacio, Mulege, and Santa Rosalia. 



Habits. — Grinnell & Grinnell have published the 

 following note on the habits of this snake as observed by 

 them in Los Angeles County: "This is a very common 

 snake in the uplands and foothill districts of the county. 

 It is seldom seen in the open, but stays in brushy places 

 where its agile movements render it difficult to capture. 



"The striped racer is a good climber, and we have often 

 seen it many feet above the ground in scrub oaks or wild 

 lilac bushes. A curious habit is that of lying in a rigid coil 

 on top of a leafy branch. We have found several in such 

 positions and supposed them to be lying in wait for any 

 insects or birds which might happen to come within striking 

 distance. The snakes are then loth to move and can be 

 closely approached and even caught. But when once aroused 

 they glide swiftly out of reach and sight." 



A photograph, reproduced in Plate 69, shows a snake 

 of this species killing a rattlesnake, Crotalus oreganus. 



1 49. Coluber barbouri Van Denburgh & Slevin 

 EsPiRiTu Santo Island Racer 



Coluber barbouri Van Denburgh & Slevin, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 

 Vol. XI, No. 6, 1921, p. 98 (type locality, Isla Partida, Espiritu 

 Santo Island, Gulf of California, Mexico). 



Description. — Head long, with flattened top and nar- 

 row, rounded snout. Rostral plate large, about once and 

 a third as high as broad, hollowed below, and bounded be- 

 hind by internasal, anterior nasal, and first labial plates. 

 Plates on top of head are a pair of internasals, a larger pair 

 of prefrontals, supraocular and part of upper preocular of 

 each side, a long and posteriorly narrow frontal, and a pair 

 of very large parietals. Anterior and posterior nasals dis- 



