BEVISION OF THE KING SNAKES. 



161 



are enlarged; mandibulars, 14, 13, or 15, the anterior enlarged, 

 diminishing posteriorly, a little greater space between the fourth 

 and the fifth; palatines, 11, 10, or 9, subequal; pterygoids 15 to 20, 

 smaller than the palatmes, and dimuiishing posteriorly. 



The penial characters could not be satisfactorily determined, 

 since all the typical specimens were females. 



That this form has suffered so at the hands of herpetologists is 

 doubtless due to the fact that it inhabits a region where but little 

 collecting has been done, and that it is consequently rare m museums. 

 Its name has usually been included in tlie synonymy of its northern 



Fig. 48.— Map showinq locauty records for Lampropeltis Triangulum annulata. 



or southern relatives. It appears, however, to be a well marked form. 

 From gentilis, its nearest relative on the north, it differs (1) in hav- 

 ing the snout nearly or entirely black mstead of lightened on the 

 end; (2) in having the white rings of about the same width on sides 

 and belly as on the middorsal line, instead of widened there; (3) in 

 having the belly marked with broad areas of black, separated by 

 narrower bands of white, instead of nearly equal areas of black and 

 white; and (4) in having a distinctly higher average number of ventral 

 plates. From poly zona it may be distinguished, (1) by the entire 

 absence of black tips on the red scales, (2) by the absence of the white 

 band across the snout, and (3) by the smaller number of ventrals. 



