664 13. COLUBRID& 



Countyj Ogden, Weber County; and Bountiful, Davis 

 County. 



Nevada records are Ruby Mountains, and the vicinity 

 of Carlin, Elko County; the Cortex Range, Eureka County; 

 Holbrook, Douglas County; Ormsby County; and Wads- 

 worth, Washoe County. 



Remarks. The fact that more than half the specimens 

 from west of the Rocky Mountains have eight labials while 

 those from farther east usually have seven causes us to con- 

 tinue to regard them as distinct subspecies. 



Habits. Like other members of its genus, the western 

 Yellow-bellied Racer is a skillful climber, and often runs 

 through the tops of the bushes at almost as great a speed 

 as when upon the ground. It is frequently found, how- 

 ever, in open country or in fields of growing grain, the grassy 

 margins of rivers, or moist meadows. It is a very graceful, 

 gentle snake. 



Lord says, "Its favourite haunt appears to be in the thin 

 brush skirting the edges of open prairie land, and the prin- 

 cipal part of its time in the summer appears to be passed in 

 the bushes, up the stems of which it climbs with great ease 

 and celerity; when there, it lazily basks away its time coiled 

 round a branch. I suspect tree frogs and insect larvae con- 

 stitute its usual food." 



145. Coluber flagellum piceus (Cope) 



WESTERN WHIP SNAKE 



Plates 64, 65 and 66 



Herpetodryas flavigularis HALLOWELL, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., Vol. X, 

 1859, p. 12; HEERMANN, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., Vol. X, 1859, 

 p. 24. 



Masticophis testaceus COPE, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1866, pp. 305, 

 312. 



Drymobius testaceus , COOPER, Proc. Cal. Acad. .Sci., Vol. IV, 1870, pp. 

 68, 76. 



