THE SCARLET KING SNAKE. 



131 



parts are silvery white, boldly checkered with black. The length of the Corn-Snake varies 

 from live to six feet. 



The Spotted Racer is another name for the Corn-Snake of the South, its northern limit 

 being the Carolinas. 



AifOTHER example of this genus is the Thunder Snake, so called from the threatening 

 black and white of its body, wliich seems to have a lowering aspect, and to menace poison as 

 the thunder-cloud augurs lightning. Sometimes it is known by the name of King Snake, or 

 Chain Snake, the latter title being given because the black and white markings of the body 

 are arranged alternately in a chain-like fashion. 



The Thunder Snake is mostly found in moist and shady places, where it feeds upon small 

 quadrupeds, reptiles, and birds if it can catch them. The portentous aspect of this Snake 

 is fully carried out by its character, which is fierce, quarrelsome, and aggressive to a degree 



"^^^^^^ 



TBUNDER SNAKE. OpIdboCm getulut. 



seldom found even in poisonous Serpents, and in a fangless Snake not at all to be expected. If 

 put in a box with other Serpents, it always quarrels and fights with them ; and in one instance, 

 when a Thunder Snake had been introduced into a cage where a miliary rattlesnake was resid- 

 ing, it attacked the venomous reptile in spite of its poisonous weapons, overpowered, killed, 

 and ate it. Some persons think that a deadly feud always rages between the Thunder Snake 

 and rattlesnake, but the truth of this supposition is somewhat dubious. In the instance just 

 mentioned, the creature would probably have treated a Serpent of any species in precisely the 

 same manner. 



The Thunder Snake is colored after a very j)eculiar fashion. All along the body run 

 alternate bands of jetty -black and pure white, the black being very broad and the white very 

 narrow, and not reaching completely across the body. The head is also mottled and scribbled 

 with black upon white after a curious and most complicated fashion. The fuU length of this 

 Serpent is about four f e^t. 



The Scarlet King Snake {Ophibolus doliatus) inhabits Florida, and extends northward 

 only as far as North Carolina. Its length is three feet six inches. Five other varieties of this 

 genus are recorded as North American, found in the Southwestern States. 



