A REVISION OF THE KING SNAKES: 

 GENUS LAMPROPELTIS 



By Frank N. Blanchard, 



Instructor in Zoology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The snakes of the genus Lampropeltis have long been in a state of 

 great confusion from the systematic standpoint. Only about one- 

 third of the forms now recognized have been at all clearly defined; 

 of the rest some have been known from only a few specimens each, 

 some have been unnaturally divided among several forms, and 

 others have been included under a single name. The confusion has 

 been greatest among the forms here included in the '^triangulum 

 group." In this group wide differences occur in color pattern 

 among forms exhibiting great similarity in structural features and 

 striking resemblance in pattern between others that are quite dis- 

 tinct in scutellation. 



The reasons for this systematic confusion are mainly two: (1) 

 Many of the forms have been known from only a very few specimens, 

 and even these have not been assembled by any one reviewer. This 

 has made it difficult or impossible to correctly evaluate the differ- 

 ences exhibited, with the result that forms only distantly related 

 have been regarded as identical or only subspecifically distinct, and 

 others that are obviously identical have been considered distinct. 

 (2) Taxonomists have often disregarded the geographic probabilities. 

 Thus many absurd definitions and groupings have made identifica- 

 tion difficult and uncertain. Locality meant little; sometimes the 

 head of a specimen would belong to one name and the body to an- 

 other. With the systematic status of forms in such confusion, but 

 little can be done toward acquiring a knowledge of habits, life his- 

 tories, and ecologic and economic relations. 



It was to bring order into this puzzling group of important and 

 economically valuable North American snakes and to put their 

 classification on a genetic basis that the present study was undertaken, 

 and the work is regarded as completed if the numerous forms have 

 been defined, our knowledge about them brought up to date, and 

 their genetic relationships traced out ' as well as the material at 

 present available will allow. 



