EEVISION OF THE KING SNAKES. 



201 



resenting the arms of the chevron. The District of Columbia speci- 

 mens often have the half collar complete and the other head mark- 

 ings much reduced. Some specimens cannot be distinguished from 

 examples of syspila. Those from New Jersey, and Delaware and 

 some from eastern Pennsylvania and parts of Maryland are reduced 

 in the same way. 



Some of these specim^ens have received varietal names. Thus 

 Baird and Girard described an individual from Clarke County, 

 Virginia, as clericus, and the name has been frequently used for speci- 

 mens from New Jersey and other states, and the name has been 

 supposed to apply to a close relative of triangulum that replaced it 

 on the south. It can be stated, however, that the material at hand 



Dorsal 



blotches. 



49 



37 



25 





Wis- Michi- New New 



consiB. gan. England. York. 



16 61 63 45 



Localities, and numbers of specimens. 



New District Southern 



Jersey, of Columbia. Alleghenies. 

 14 22 14 



Fig. 57.— Diagram showing geographic variation in number of dorsal blotches in Lampropeltis 



triangulum triangulum. 



indicates that the supposably distinguishing features of clericus have 

 no constancy and no geographic basis. However, it is not improbable 

 that when sufficient specimens are available for study, a local race 

 will be found having its center in New Jersey and Delaware, and 

 perhaps southern Virginia. Stone (1906, 167) and others have noted 

 that typical triangvlum appears to be replaced in the coastal plain 

 regions of these States by individuals with fewer and broader dorsal 

 blotches and reduced head markings, but as already stated the 

 present material is insufhcient for identifying a separate race. The 

 coUaris * of Cope was based upon selected individuals from Elmira, 

 Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri, and Washington, District of Columbia, 

 that exhibited the half collar, regardless of whatever other char- 

 acters they possessed. 



* Although no type was specifically designated, Cope twice figured United States National Museum 

 specimen No. 2433 from Elmira, Illinois, in connection with descriptions of collaris, and this may therefore 

 properly bo considered the type. As this specimen is a triangulum, the name collaris becomes a synonjon. 



