REPTILES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 167 



any constriction at neck. The snout is broad and hif^li. 

 The upper head-plates are normal. The nasal plates are 

 distinct. One (rarely two) preocular and two (rarely 

 one or three) postoculars are present, as is also a small 

 loreal plate. Temporals are normally 2-3, rarely 1-2, 

 1-3, 2-2, 2-4, or 3-4. The scales are smooth, in twen- 

 ty-one or twenty-three (or 24) rows, each with two apical 

 pits. The anal plate is undivided, but the urosteges are 

 in two series. The eye is of moderate size, with round 

 pupil. 



SYNOPSIS OF SPECIES, 

 a. — Bliick rings more or less split by red; gastrosteges fewer than 220. 



L. zonata. — p. 167. 

 a^. — No red; gastrosteges more than 220. 



b. — Color in transverse blotches or rings L. boylii. — p. 169. 



b-. — Color chiefly in longitudinal lines or blotches. 



L. californiae. — p. 172. 



51. — Lampropeltis zonata (Blainville). California 

 King Snake. 



Coluber (Zacholus) zonatus, Blaix., Nouv. Ann. du Mus., IV, 1835, 



p. 293 (type locality California); B. & G., Cat. N. A. Rept., 



Pt. I, Serp., 1853, p. 153. 

 Ophibolus pyrrhomelas, Cope, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., I, 187o, p. 37 



(part?); Cope, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XIV, 1891, p. 610(p;irt?). 

 Bellophis zonatus, Lockington, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., Vll, 1877, 



p. 52 (type locality [Santa Barbara,] Calif.). 

 Ophibolus geiulus multicinctus, Yarkow, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., V, 



1882, p. 440 (type locality Fresno, California). 

 Coronella tmdtifasciata, Bocourt, Miss. Sci. au Max., Rept. lOeLivr., 



1886, p. 616, pi. XL, figs. 2-2c (type locality California). 

 Coronella zonata, Boulenger, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., II, 1894, 



p. 202. 



Description. — Top of head slightly flattened posteriorly, 

 curving downward to broad rounded snout. Temporal 

 regions frequently swollen. Rostral plate large, broader 

 than high, hollowed below, and bounded behind by in- 

 ternasal, anterior nasal, and first labial plates. Plates on 

 top of head, a pair of internasals, a pair of prefrontals, 



