REVISION OF THE KING SNAKES. 219 



mens of L. triangulum syspila (Cope). There are no lateral spots alternating with the 

 dorsal saddles, but anteriorly on the belly there is, as in the type, a single large black 

 blotch opposite each of the dorsal whitish bands. Posteriorly, however, these blotches 

 become irregular and the black pigment is much increased in amount. Whatever 

 this specimen is, it is not a triangulum. It may represent a derivative of triangulum 

 as yet unrecognized, but in view of the great variability exhibited by specimens 

 from this middle Atlantic region and the lack of representatives from large areas of 

 Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland it is not possible at present to define the characters 

 of this unknown form or even to be certain that such a form exists. The present plan 

 of identifying this aberrant specimen as virginiana is admittedly an expedient for 

 delaying the settlement of the difficulty until more specimens shall be available for 

 study. The dentition of this individual, except for the pterygoid teeth is as follows: 

 maxillaries, 13; mandibulars, 13; palatines, 11. 



The specimen in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (no. 3601) is of 

 uncertain origin. It may be from Delaware. It is closely similar to the Cuscowilla 

 specimen, and is with little doubt a virginian-a. 



The form virginiana, as defined by the type and represented by all the others listed 

 except the two doubtful ones (those from Alberene and the District of Columbia), 

 is without doubt a derivative of elapsoidas by an alteration of the pattern closely 

 similar to that which took place when the subspecies of triangulum changed from the 

 ringed to the saddled type of pattern. WTiether this change toward the triangulum 

 type went so far that individuals of virginiana were able to hybridize with the degen- 

 erating section of triangulum of the mid -Atlantic States seems improbable. It is 

 more likely, as indicated above, that there exists in this region a degenerate derivative 

 of triangulum. This question can be settled only when specimens shall be available 

 from the Delaware-Maryland peninsula, and from eastern Virginia. 



Mr. C. S. Brimley has recently published notes on numerous exam- 

 ples of red king snakes from the vicinity of Raleigh, North Carolina 

 (1920, 106-109), which confirm our expectation that this is the 

 boundary region between the ranges of elapsoides and virginiana and 

 that the two forms here intergrade. 

 186550— 21— Bull. 114 15 



