REVISION OF THE KING SNAKES. 117 



from true E. laeta and to be the equivalent of Harlan's 0. calligaster. 

 Kennicott therefore gave a new name to the specimens in the col- 

 lection of Northwestern University, which were unquestionably 

 the Lam-propeltis calligaster that we now loiow, calling them OpTii- 

 holus evansii. 



Granting that Harlan had our form before him, the name calli- 

 gaster has priority over evansii of Kennicott. 



Description. — The scutellation is as follows: Ventral plates 196 to 

 215, average 205; caudals, 38 to 57 (males 44 to 57, average 51; 

 females 38 to 52, average 46); supralabials, 7, sometimes 8; infra- 

 labials, usually 9, often 10, occasionally 11; oculars, 1 and 2; temporals 

 normally 2+3+4; posterior chin shields usually a little shorter than 

 anterior, close together or separated by 1 or 2 small scales; loreal 

 usually longer than high, but sometimes as high as long; suture 

 between the inteniasals only about half, or less than half, as long as 

 that between the prefrontals; scale rows on middle of body usually 

 25, sometimes 27, very rarely no more than 23. (For the scale 

 formulae, see under Variation.) 



The body is rather slender, and uniform in diameter; the head 

 is scarcely distinct from the neck, the snout is generally somewhat 

 longer and more pointed than in rhomhcmaculata, the tail is rather 

 short and tapers rapidly, varying from 0.110 to 0.150 of the total 

 length (males, 0.123 to 0.150, average, 0.137; females, 0.110 to 0.145, 

 average, 0.123). The largest specimen examined measured about 

 1,355 mm., and was taken at Lawrence, Kansas, 



The pattern (fig. 39) is composed of about 60 (46 to 78) trans- 

 versely elongate quadrate brownish or greenish blotches (reddish 

 in the young), 2 to 3 scales long and 8 to 12 across, narrowly margined 

 with black, set on a ground color of lighter brown, and extending 

 down on the sides to the seventh or sixth row of scales. These 

 blotches are more or less concave before and behind and are occa- 

 sionally divided on the median line; on the tail they may become 

 narrowed to transverse black bands, indistinct and irregular near 

 the end. On the sides, alternating with the dorsal row, there is a 

 similar series of smaller dark-edged blotches, roundish for the most 

 part, but often elongated anteriorly. On the first row or two of 

 scales, and overlapping the ventrals, is a third series of spots, in 

 alternation with the last, and tending, posteriorly, to fuse with them. 

 Each scale, usually including the ends of the ventral plates, is minutely 

 mottled with brown. 



The head is somewhat variously spotted, but certain markings are 

 usually evident. Transversely across the posterior portion of the 

 prefrontals and not overlapping the frontal plate is a brown bar, 

 edged with darker; extending forward from behind the parictals 

 there is a dark-edged brown band which forks on the parietals, and 



