REPTILES. 107 



753), Eaton County (Clark, 1902, 193), Olivet, Kalamazoo, Mont- 

 calm and Van Buren Counties (Clark, 1905, 110), Marquette (Ruth- 

 ven, 1906, 111), Pine Lake, Oakland County (Ruthven, 1911, 114), 

 but there is great probability that some of these records refer to 

 3^oung specimens of Storeria. The Marquette record is particularly 

 open to question and has not been recorded upon the map. We 

 have seen specimens from: Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County (a 

 single specimen taken many years ago and now in the Museum), 

 Pine Lake, Oakland County, Olivet, Eaton County, Alma, Gratiot 

 County, and Douglas Lake, Cheboygan County, and Dr. F. N. 

 Notestein informs the writer that he saw the species in numbers 

 in Otsego County in 1911. 



BASCANION CONSTKICTOK (Linnaeus). 



BLUE RACER. 

 (PI. X.) 



Colu'ber constrictor^ Sager, 1839, 302. 



Bascanion constrictor constrictor, Notestein, 1905, 119. Clark, 



1905, 110. Smith, 1879, 7. 

 Bascanion foxii, Baird and Girard, 1853, 96. Miles, 1861, 233. 

 Zamenis constrictor, Clark, 1902, 193; 1903, 172-173. 

 Bascanion canstrictor foxi, Smith, 1879, 7. 



Bascanion constrictor, Baird and Girard, 1853, 93-94. Whittaker, 

 1905, 100-102. Miles, 1861, 233. Cope, 1900, 701-797. 

 Hankinson, 1908, 236. Thompson, 1911, 107. 



Description: A large snake that often attains a length of about 

 six* feet. Head somewhat flattened from the nape, but profile curv- 

 ing downward anterior to the eye, high on the sides and sides con- 

 cave in front of eye. Xostril and ej^e large. 



Dorsal scale rows 17-15 in ever}- specimen examined. Suprala- 

 bials 7, frequently 8; infralabials 8 or 9. Oculars 1-2, generally* a 

 small plate under the preocular. Temporals usually two in the first 

 row. Ventrals 175-192; subcaudals 88-92. Anal plate divided. 



Michigan specimens when adult usually uniformly dull bluish 

 green above, rarely darker than dark olive, becoming black only on 

 the temporal region and more or less brownish toward the end of 

 the muzzle. Color of ventral surface nearly always greenish or 

 bluish white, although frequently tinged with yellow. 



The young differ so markedly from the adults that a superficial 

 examination would seem to indicate that thev belono^ to a different 

 species, and as a matter of fact they are frequently confused with 



