REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS OF TEXAS 33 



Texas. It is probably confined to the eastern timber 

 belt and the coast prairie country. In Liberty and 

 San Jacinto Counties, I frequently heard of a timber 

 blacksnake that must have been this reptile, but as 

 no specimens were secured, cannot be positive. 



93. Callopeltis obsoletus lindheimeri Baird and Gir- 



ard. Lindheimer's Pilot Snake. 

 This subspecies inhabits the greater portion of 

 Texas east of the plains, but is most abundant in 

 the region from Comal and Bexar Counties east to 

 Matagorda County and southward in the coast prai- 

 rie to the mouth of the Rio Grande river. My north- 

 ernmost locality is McKinney, from which place I 

 received two adult specimens from Mr. Eustis King. 



94. Callopeltis obsoletus confinis Baird and Girard. 



Gray Pilot Snake. 



Cope considered the Coluber confinis of Baird 

 and Girard to be an entirely different species from 

 the Coluber spiloides of Dumeril and Bibron and I 

 have always mentioned the present species under the 

 latter name. The gray pilot snake retains its juven- 

 ile color pattern through life. The head markings 

 in the young are very variable, but usually present 

 to those willing to draw on their imaginations the 

 outlines of a human head. In one example it is an 

 old man with gray beard, in another a woman's head 

 with abundant tresses, and so on. Two were exhib- 

 ited at a local exposition with a "For Sale" sign at- 

 tached. Price $100.00 for the pair! And these were 

 no better specimens from the standpoint of mark- 

 ings than a dozen or more in my own collection. It 

 is needless to say that the owner failed to find a 

 purchaser. 



Confinis ranges from Dallas south to the Browns- 

 ville country. Mr. Hurter obtained two mag- 

 nificent specimens at San Antonio and Mr. Mitchell 

 has collected several at Victoria. Both the present 

 sub-species and lindheimeri have been collected in 



