REPTILES OP THE PACIFIC COAST. 



197 



The ground color is pale brown or yellowish gray, 

 sometimes obscured 

 by the spreading of 

 the blotches or the 

 presence of black 

 marks along the keels 

 of its scales. Along 

 the middle of the back 

 is a series of from thir- 

 ty-six to seventy-nine 

 dark brown or black 

 blotches. There are several series of smaller alternating 

 dark blotches or spots on the sides. These spots some- 

 times tend to unite to form longitudinal lines. Across the 

 top of the head, between the ^ireocular plates, is a line 

 of black .or brown. A similar line runs down from the 

 center of the eye and another back and down from the 

 upper postocular plate. The lower surfaces are yellow- 

 ish white, usually maculated with black or brown. 



Length to anus 315 660 820 860 1200 1260 



Length of tail 52 135 165 170 270 210 



Distribution. The Western Gopher Snake occupies 

 the Pacific Coast of the United States, but is replaced 

 in the Great Basin by its subspecies P. catenifer dcsert- 

 icola. It ranges north and south at least from Puget 

 Sound to San Diego. The eastern limit of its territory 

 in the north (in Idaho) is not known, but in California 

 is marked by the Sierra Nevada and the western edge of 

 the Mojave and Colorado Deserts. In California, it has 

 been taken in San Diego (San Diego), Riverside (San 

 Jacinto), San Bernardino (Ontario), Los Angeles (Pasa- 

 dena), Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara), Kern (Fort Tejon), 

 Fresno (Pitman Creek, King's River), Montery (Mon- 

 terey), Santa Cruz (Soquel, Corralitos, Glenwood), Santa 



