Vol. VIII] VAN DENBURGH AND SLEVIN— GARTER-SNAKES 



239 



Remarks. — Thamnophis ordinoides elegans is a dark, dis- 

 tinctly striped form with no, or but little, evident spotting, and 

 usually without dark pigmentation of the gastrosteges. It is 

 closely related to T. o. vagrans and to T. o. couchii, agrees 

 closely with both in most scale characters, and, at certain 

 points, intergrades with both. Thus, some of the specimens 

 from the Warner Mountains, Modoc County, California, ap- 

 proach the elegans type of coloration in varying degrees, while 

 others are fairly typical of vagrans, under which heading they 

 are listed. Apparently the type of Cope's Eutcenia elegans 

 brunnea from Fort Bidwell, Modoc County, was such an in- 

 termediate specimen. Certain specimens from the Yosemite 

 Valley, Kings River, and Jackass Meadow, are more or less 

 intermediate between T. o. elegans and T. o. couchii. A few 

 of the specimens from the east slope of the Sierra Nevada also 

 seem to be intergrades. However, the snakes from the higher 

 altitudes in the Sierra Nevada seem to be constantly true to 

 type. Those from the San Bernardino Mountains also show 

 no departure from this type, although their range is in part 

 overlapped by that of T. o. hammondii. No one could ques- 

 tion the validity of this race as it occurs in these southern 

 mountains, and the fact that intergrades between it and other 

 races occur in the more northern portion of its range should 

 not cause us to refuse it recognition. 



