REVISION OF THE KING SNAKES. 173 



the latter, so that there is the least difficulty in referring it to amaura. 

 Where it came from is unknown. Originally only one specimen bore 

 the United States National Museum number 10544. This was en- 

 tered as from Gainesville, Florida, James Bell, collector. Later 

 another was found with the same number — 10544. The original 

 name in the record book is erased and " ? Ophiholus doliatus" written 

 over it. This was probably meant for the specimen which later 

 became the tyi^e of 'parallelus. This " ? Ophiholus doliatus'' has a 

 line through it and above is written " ? Osceola elapsoidea;" this was 

 doubtless the specimen that originally bore the number 10544. This, 

 too, has a line through it, and above it is written "OpTiiholus doliatus 

 parallelus." Then when it was noticed that two different specimens 

 bore the number 10544, one was given a new number, 20137, and the 

 type of parallelus was left with the old number. Specimen number 

 20137 is a perfect example of elapsoides, and is without doubt the one 

 received from James Bell. This leaves parallelus with no locality 

 and no way of finding it out. 



Description. — ^This form has the following scutellation : Ventral 

 plates, 180 to 205; caudals, 39 to 51 (males, 41 to 51, average about 

 45; females, 39 to 47, average about 44); supralabials, 7, infralabials, 

 9, occasionally 8 or 10; 1 preocular, 2 postoculars; temporals, 2 + 2 + 3 

 or 2+3+4, sometimes 1+2 + 3; posterior chin shields shorter than 

 anterior, and frequently separated by one or two small scales; loreal 

 distinctly longer than deep; scale rows usually 21-19, occasionaly as 

 low as 19-21-19-17, and as high as 21-23-21-19. 



This is a small snake, but not as small as elapsoides. It is rather 

 slender; the snout is a little more pointed and projecting than that of 

 gentilis; the tail varies from 0.118 to 0.156 of the total length (males, 

 0.133 (0.118) to 0.156, average 0.143; females, 0.125 to 0.143, average 

 0.136). The largest specimen examined measured 629 mm., and 

 came from Jefferson County, Texas. 



The pattern is typically in rings of black, yellow, and red. There 

 are 18 to 26 yellow rings on body and tail bordered with black and 

 separated by red. The yellow rings widen on the lower rows of 

 scales, and traverse the belly, but are sometimes more or less inter- 

 rupted here with black blotches. The red areas may be continuous 

 across the belly or interrupted by the ventral junctions of the black 

 borders of adjacent pairs of rings (fig. 67). The head is usually 

 black and the snout red, but the red, in a few cases extends back 

 onto the parietals. 



This form may be distinguished from elapsoides by the greater 

 number of ventral plates (nearly 200), a maximum of 21 instead of 

 19 rows of scales, the usually greater extent of black on the head, 

 the fact that the snout is usually more or less mottled with black 

 instead of being a uniform red; from syspila it may be distinguished 



