REVISION OF THE KING SNAKES. 149 



LAMPROPELTIS MICROPHOLIS Cope. 



Fig. 70. 



1860. Lampropeltis micropholis Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, p. 257 



(type specimen originally at Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, now appar- 

 ently lost; type locality, Panama; Dr. John L. LeConte, collector). — 

 Fowler, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 65, 1913, p. IQS.—Coro- 

 nella micropholis Tbracc a, Bull. Mus. Torino, vol. 11, 1896, p. 9 (Panama); 

 same, vol. 12, 1897, p. 17 (Cuenca, Ecuador); same, vol. 19, 1904, p. 13 

 (Vinces, Ecuador); Voy. Exp. Sci. Colombie, 1914, pp. 96-111. — Des- 

 PAX, Bull. Mus. Nat. d'Hist. Nat. Paris, no. 7, 1910, p. 370; Kept. Batr. 

 de I'Equateiu*, 1911, p. 28. — Griffin, Mem. Carnegie Mus., vol. 7, no. 

 3, 1916, p. 176 (Cacagualito, Colombia). 



1861. Coronella doliata formosa Jan. Icon. Gen. Ophid., livr. 14, Dec, pi. 4, 



fig." B*" (this specimen from Colombia, now probably at Vienna, may 

 be taken as the type). — Boulenger, Bull. Zool. Soc. France, 1880, p. 44 

 (Quito, Ecuador). — Coronella doliata, var. /ormosa Boulenger, Ann. Mag. 

 Nat. Hist., vol. 9, 1882, p. 458 (Guayaquil). 

 1887. Ophibolus doliatus polyzonus Cope, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., no. 32, p. 78 

 (Panama, Darien). 



Description. — ^This is the most southern representative of the genus 

 known. Its scalation is as follows: Ventral plates, 211 to 228, aver- 

 age about 218; caudals, 40 to 49 (males, 43 to 49, average about 46; 

 females, 40 to 44, average 42), frequently several entire; suprala- 

 bials, 7, rarely 8; infralabials, 9, sometimes 8, rarely 10; one pre- 

 ocular, two postoculars (fused in one specimen); temporals usually 

 1 + 2 + 3, varying to 2 + 3 + 4 ; posterior chin shields in contact, shorter 

 than anterior, or about as long; loreal longer than high or about as 

 high as long, its upper posterior angle obtuse and its lower posterior 

 angle acute; scale rows on middle of body 21 or 23, the formulae 

 commonly 21-23-21-19, or 21-19-17, or 19-21-19-17. 



In proportions this form differs somewhat from its nearest rela- 

 tive, polyzona. The body is fairly stout and of nearly uniform 

 diameter throughout; the head is more distinctly set off from the 

 neck; the tail is distinctly shorter and blunter than is usual in poly- 

 zona, varying from 0.112 to 0.136 of the total length (males, 0.114 

 to 0.136, average about 0.123; females 0.112 to 0.129, average about 

 0.118). The largest of the few adults examined measured 1,232 mm., 

 and probably came from Ecuador. 



The pattern (fig. 70) is conspicuously different from that of poly- 

 zona, although built upon the same plan. The homologues of the 

 white or yellow rings, 13 to 21 in number, are much widened and the 

 dorsal scales of these rings, instead of being tipped or mottled with 

 black or entirely without black, have each a conspicuous oval black 

 spot on the distal end, which often occupies more than half the area 

 of the scale and may sometimes cover the whole scale. Further- 

 more, the black on the head has so receded as to be continuous only 

 from the anterior end of the frontal plate to the posterior portion of 



