172 BULLETIN 114, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



LAMPROPELTIS TRIANGULUM AM AURA (Cope). 



Fig. 67. 



1853. Ophibolus doliatus Baird and Girard, Cat. N, Amer. Rept., pt. 1, Serpents, 

 p. 89.— Baird, Pacif. R. R. Surv., vol. 10, pt. 3, no. 1, pi. 30, fig. 63.— 

 Coronella doliata (part) Dumeril and Bibron, Erp. Gen., vol. 7, pt. 1, 

 1854, p. 621.— GiJNTHER, Cat. Colubr. Snakes Brit. Mus., 1858, p. 41, 

 var. B. — Lampropeltis doliatus Garman, S., Bull. Essex Inst., vol. 24, 

 1892, p. 9. 



1860. Lampropeltis amaura Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, p. 258 

 (type locality, "unknown" — Original entry of type U. S. Nat. Mus., no. 

 5282 reads " ? Mississippi"). 



1863. Coroneua gentilis Jan, Arch. Zool. Anat., vol. 2, fasc. 2, pp. 237, 241. 



1866. Coronella doliata gentilis Jan, Icon. Gen., Hyt. 17, pi. 1, fig. 2, (Fort Towson, 

 Oklahoma). — Bocourt, Miss. Sci. Mex., 1886, p. 610 (part). — Osceola 

 doliata gentilis Cope, Rep. U. S. Nat. Mus. for 1898, 1900, fig. 218 (Cal- 

 casieu Pass, Louisiana). 



1875. Ophibolus doliatus amaurus Cope, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., no. 1, p. 36. 



1882. Ophibolus doliatus doliatus Yarrow, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., no. 24, p. 89. — 

 Strecker, Baylor Univ. Bull., vol. 18, no. 4, 1915, p. 38. — Osceola doliata 

 doliata Strecker, Trans. Texas Acad. Sci. for 1901, vol. 4, pt. 2, no. 5, 

 1902, p. 3. — Lampropeltis doliatus doliatus Strecker, Proc. Biol. Soc. 

 Washington, vol. 21, 1908, p. 75. 



1888. Ophibolus doliatus coccineus Cope, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 11, p. 382; 

 vol. 14, 1891, pp. 608, 609; Amer. Nat., vol. 27, 1893, p. 1067, pi. 28, fig. 

 10; Rep. U. S. Nat. Mus. for 1898, 1900, pi. 36, fig. 10.— Stone, Proc. 

 Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1903, p. 542 (Limestone Gap, Oklahoma). — 

 Strecker, Baylor Univ. Bull., vol. 18, no. 4, 1915, p. 38. — Viosca, 6th 

 Bien. Rep. Louisiana State Mus., 1918, p. 72. — Osceola doliata coccinea 

 Cope, Rep. U. S. Nat. Mus. for 1898, 1900, p. 896 (part). 



1888. Ophibolus doliatus parallelus Cope, Proc. U. S, Nat. Mus., vol. 11, pp. 383, 

 385 (type locality, unknown; type specimen, U. S. Nat. Mus., no. 10544); 

 vol. 14, 1891, pp. 608, 609; Amer. Nat. vol. 27, 1893, p. 1067 pi. 27, fig. 8; 

 Rep. U. S. Nat. Mus. for 1898, 1900, pi. 35, fig. S.— Osceola doliata parallela 

 Cope, same, p. 893, fig. 217. — Wright, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadel- 

 phia, 1915, p. 140. 



1917. Jjampropeltis triangulum amaura Stejneger and Barber, Check List, p. 90. 



As here defined, amaura occupies a very limited range in the lower 

 Mississippi Valley. Nearly every reference in the literature includes 

 with it individuals here referred to elapsoides, syspila, gentilis^ 

 nelsoni, and perhaps others. The indications are that it is a fairly 

 well-defined form, intergrading, however, on the north with syspila, 

 on the west with gentilis, and probably with annulata on the south- 

 west. The type is typical, and undoubtedly came from a central 

 portion of this range, very likely from Mississippi, as the original 

 entry suggests. 



Parallelus Cope is included in the synonomy with some hesitation. 

 The pattern of the head is like that of syspila, but the body pattern, 

 which is unlike any example of syspila yet examined, occurs in some 

 specimens of amaura and of virginiana. The scutellation excludes 



