The King Snakes 



Red rings widest; yellow rings bordered by equal-sized rings of 

 black. This is much the smaller of the ringed King Snakes. 



SCARLET KING SNAKE; "CORAL SNAKE," O. doltdtUS COCcineUS. 



Distribution. North Carolina to Florida; westward to the 

 Mississippi. 



III. Pattern : Red or brownish blotches on a pale ground. 



a. Blotches wide. 



Yellowish, with red (black-bordered) blotches extending to 

 the first row of scales. 



SOUTHERN MILK SNAKE, O. doliatUS (typical). 



Distribution. Maryland to Florida; westward to Texas. 



Yellow or gray, with red or brown (black- bordered), blotches 



reaching the third row of scales; small, alternating blotches 



on sides. RED MILK SNAKE, O. doliatus clericus. 



Distribution. Southern New Jersey to North Carolina; 



westward to Illinois. 



Yellow or gray, with brownish (black-bordered) blotches reach- 

 ing to about fifth row of scales ; smaller blotches on sides. 



MILK SNAKE; HOUSE SNAKE, O. doliatus triangulus. 

 Distribution. The New England States to North Carolina; 

 westward to Wisconsin. 



b. Blotches small and oblong. 



Pale brown, with darker brown blotches on back and a 

 smaller series on sides. No bands on top of head. 



BROWN KING SNAKE, O. rhombomaculatus . 

 Distribution. Maryland to South Carolina ; westward to the 



Allegheny Mountains. 



Brownish-gray, with dark brown blotches (black-bordered) on 

 back and smaller blotches on sides ; usually a band across, and 

 lengthwise on top of head. 



YELLOW-BELLIED KING SNAKE, O. Colligaster. 



Distribution. Minnesota to northern Texas; eastward to 

 Indiana and westward to Kansas. 



IV. Pattern : Pale and narrow transverse bands on a darker ground. 

 Black, brown or green, with yellow or white transverse bands 



which fork and join one another on side in chain-like fashion. 



CHAIN SNAKE; COMMON KING SNAKE, O. getulus. 



Distribution. Southern New Jersey to Florida; westward 



to Louisiana . 



Black or brown with white or yellow transverse bands which 

 widen on sides. BOYLE'S KING SNAKE, O. getulus boylii. 



Distribution. California, Arizona and Nevada. 

 Appeals to the former, but many of the rings are broken and in- 

 terspersed with short stripes. 



CALIFORNIA KING SNAKE, O. getulus California. 

 Distribution. Southern California; Lower California. 



V. Pattern: A pale spot in the centre of each scale. 



Black, with a yellow, green or white spot in the centre of each 

 scale. SAY'S KING SNAKE, O. getulus sa^n. 



Distribution. Southern Illinois through the southern plains 

 region, and south to Louisiana and western Texas. 



As has hitherto been the custom in this work, the arrange- 

 ment of species in the key has been guided solely by the idea 

 to group them in a fashion that may be used in hasty identifi- 

 cation not from ibe standpoint of technical classification. This 

 has been the case with the King Snakes, as their peculiar patterns 



34i 



