210 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[No. 



Bascanion tseniatum (Hallow.). 



The range of the present species is somewhat better understood than 

 that of 7>. laterale. It is much move widely distributed, as specimens 

 have been taken in Idaho, Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, New- 

 Mexico, and Mexico, but it does not seem to reach the coast, nor docs 

 it appear to occur in the Valley of California, except at two points. 

 These are Walker Basin (U. S. Nat, Mus., No. 0498) and Shasta County, 

 northern California, where it probably enters by way of the Pit River 

 Valley, as one specimen is from Baird, on the McCloud River (U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., No. 13018), the other from Canoe Creek (No. 1983), both tributa- 

 ries of Pit River. 



List of specimens of Bascanion ictniatum. 



TJ. S. 

 Nat. 

 Mus. 

 No. 



18073 

 18074 



18075 

 18076 



Sex 

 and 

 age. 



Locality. 



Argus Range, Maturango Spring, 

 Calif 



Coso Valley, Calif 



Coso Valley, near Maturango Spring, 

 Calif.... -.--' ■ 



Coso Mountains, Coso, Calif 



Pananiint Mountains, Willow Creek, 

 Calif. 



Alti- 

 tude. 



Feel. 



5, 400 



Date. 



May 

 May 



May 11 

 May 18 

 May] 19 



Collector. 



Fisher . 

 Do . . . 



Talmcr 

 Fisher . 



Nelson . 



Remarks. 



Thamnophis" infernalis (Blainv.). 



The status of the various forms of garter snakes in North America 

 is one of the most difficult problems, and as yet an unsolved one. Much 

 more material than is at present available will be necessary in order to 

 establish the limits of the species and subspecies, to define their char- 

 acters, to ascertain the range of individual variation within each form, 

 and to settle the many knotty points of nomenclature. For the present, 

 the reference of many specimens must necessarily be a pro visional 

 one, and individuals which one herpetologist might identify as be- 

 longing to one form are very likely to be named quite differently by 

 another, and our knowledge of the geographical distribution of a num- 

 ber of these forms must consequently also be defective. It would there- 

 fore hardly be wise to make any generalizations in this direction. Under 

 such circumstances, when the limits and true characters of the various 

 forms are yet unsettled, it seems unnecessary to make an attempt at 

 recognizing a distinction between specific and subspecific terms. With 



* According to the A. O. U. Code of Zoological Nomenclature (canon xlii), Tham- 

 nopliis Fitzinger, 1843 (type Th. saurita), takes the precedence over Eutainia Baird 

 & Girard. Apropos of my introduction of Leptotyphlops of Fitzinger for Stenostoma, 

 preoccupied, it has been asserted that Fitzmger's names are nomina nuda. The 

 simple fact that Fitzinger expressly indicated the type of the genus at once removes, 

 them from that category, and moreover, the code roferred to states in so many word 9 

 that the indication of the type species is sufficient for th,e establishment off/he ge- 

 neric term, 



