REVISION OF THE KING SNAKES. 



201 



resenting the arms of the chevron. The District of Columbia speci- 

 mens often have the half collar complete and the other head mark- 

 ings much reduced. Some specimens cannot be distinguished from 

 examples of syspila. Those from New Jersey, and Delaware and 

 some from eastern Pennsylvania and parts of Maryland are reduced 

 in the same way. 



Some of these specimens have received varietal names. Thus 

 Baird and Girard described an individual from Clarke County, 

 Virginia, as clcricus, and the name has been frequently used for speci- 

 mens from New Jersey and other states, and the name has been 

 supposed to apply to a close relative of triangulum that replaced it 

 on the south. It can be stated, however, that the material at hand 



Dorsal 



blotches. 



61 



49 



I 1 1 I ,:m« ■' ■■ 



New 



District 



Southern 



Jersey. 



of Columbia. 



Alleghenies 



14 



22 



14 



25 



Wis- Michi- New New 



consin. gan. England. York. 



16 61 63 45 



LOCAUTIES, AND NUMBERS Ot SPECIMENS. 



FlQ. 57.— DUGRAM SHOWING GEOGRAPHIC VABUTION IN NUMBER OF DORSAL BLOTCHES IN LAMPROPELTB 



TRLANGULUM TRLiNGULUM. 



indicates that the supposably distinguishing features of clericus have 

 no constancy and no geographic basis. However, it is not improbable 

 that when sufficient specimens are available for study, a local race 

 wiU be found having its center in New Jersey and Delaware, and 

 perhaps southern Virginia. Stone (1906, 167) and others have noted 

 that typical triangulum appears to be replaced in the coastal plain 

 regions of these States by individuals with fewer and broader dorsal 

 blotches and reduced head markings, but as ah'eady stated the 

 present material is insufiicient for identifying a separate race. The 

 collaris * of Cope was based upon selected individuals from Elmira, 

 Illinois, St. Louis, Mssouri, and Washington, District of Columbia, 

 that exhibited the half collar, regardless of whatever other char- 

 acters they possessed. 



« Although no type was specifically designated, Cope twice figured United States National Museum 

 specimen No. 2433 from Elmira, Illinois, in coimection \vith descriptions of collaris, and this may therefore 

 properly be considered the type. As this specimen is a triangulum, the name collaris becomes a synonym. 



