40. THAMNOPHIS 



specimen is Oceano, San Luis Obispo County. It occurs also 

 in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, 

 Riverside and San Diego counties, and northwestern Lower 

 California. Its range is chiefly in the Upper Sonoran Zone 

 but extends into the Lower Sonoran and Transition zones. 



I have examined specimens from San Luis Obispo 

 (Oceano), Santa Barbara (Santa Inez River), Ventura (San- 

 ta Paula), Los Angeles (West Fork San Gabriel River, 

 Pasadena, Los Angeles, Claremont, Rock Creek), San Ber- 

 nardino (Victorville, Santa Ana Canyon and River, San Ber- 

 nardino Mts., Ontario, Chino), Riverside (Riverside, San 

 Jacinto Valley, Keen Camp, Hemet Lake, Base of San Jacin- 

 to Mts. near Cabazon, Palm Canyon at 800 feet, Tahquitz 

 Valley at 8,000 feet). Orange (Laguna Beach), and San 

 Diego (Agua Caliente, Oak Grove, Carlsbad, Santa Ysabel 

 Valley, Witch Creek, Cuyamaca Mts., Sweet Water Dam, 

 Dulzura, Campo) counties, California. 



This snake has been recorded also from northern and 

 central Lower California, Mexico (Comondu, La Guilla, 

 San Antonio, Mulege, San Ignacio, Ensenada, and the 

 mountains near Hanson's Laguna). 



Remarks. — Thamnophis ordinoides hammondu is a well 

 differentiated subspecies. The dorsal line is completely 

 lacking in all specimens we have examined — even the young- 

 est ones — which had been taken in southern California. 

 Some specimens show a nuchal spot, but none even a short 

 line. Specimens from this area also show little or no black 

 on the belly. The name hammondii often has been applied 

 to snakes collected farther north, as in the San Joaquin Val- 

 ley and the Sierra Nevada. These northern snakes, how- 

 ever, almost invariably have at least some trace of a dorsal 

 line, and often show more or less black on the belly scutes, 

 as in vagrans. Their status is discussed in this paper under 



