
482 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vor. XXXVI. 
has given me many facts regarding the distribution of the 
various color forms of the common garter snake. 
It is to be regretted that the results so far obtained are 
chiefly negative, tending to cast doubt upon the tenability of 
previously described subspecies, without pointing out the direc- 
tion in which we are to look for more significant variations. A 
large series of living specimens, collected in such widely sepa- 
rated areas as the Adirondacks, the Catskills, the Hudson 
Highlands, Long Island, the shore of Lake Ontario, and the 
counties of the “southern tier," might indicate the presence 
of certain variations which could be correlated with differences 
of habitat, or are associated with such other aids to polytypic 
evolution as would justify us in considering them as subspecies. 
It is hardly necessary to say that, for the purposes of this 
study, living specimens are absolutely essential. Colors alter 
so rapidly on immersion in alcohol that alcoholic specimens are 
worthless so far as color variations are concerned. 
1. Subspecies previously described from the Adirondacks. 
The subspecies of Eutenia sirtalis which have been noted as 
occurring north of Pennsylvania are as follows: Æ. s. graminea 
(Cope), E. s. ordinata (Linn.), E. s. sirtalis (Linn.), E. s. obscura 
(Cope), and Z. s. pallidula (Allen). Of these, all save Æ. s. 
graminea have been found in the Adirondack region. In the 
present paper I purpose discussing the effect, upon the tena- 
bility of the subspecies Æ. s. obscura and E. s. pallidula, of the 
examination of material collected in New York state during the 
past field season. In a future paper I hope to discuss the 
remaining subspecies. The characters of Æ. s. obscura and £E. s. 
pallidula, as given by Cope and Allen respectively, are as 
follows : 
Eutenia sirtalis obscura (Cope). 
Cope: in his-last discussion! of this subspecies, describes it 
as a form i in which the spots have entirely (or almost entirely) 
1 Cope, E. D. Crocodilians, Lizards, and Snakes of North America, Af. 
Nat. Mus. (1898), p. 1074. 
