REVISION OF THE KING SNAKES. 231 



LAMPROPELTIS PYRRHOMELAENA (Cope). 



ARIZONA RINGEP SNAKE. 



Figs. 5, 71. 



1866. Ophiholus pyromelanus Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, p. 305 



(type locality. Fort Whipple, Arizona). 

 1875. Ophibolus pyrrhomelas Yarrow, Geog. Geol. Explor. Surv. W. 100th Mer., 



vol. 5, chap. 4, p. 537, pi. 19.— Cope, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., no. 1, 1875, 



p. 37.— Yarrow, same, no. 24, 1882, p. 91.— Cope, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 



vol. 14, 1891, p. 610; Rep. U. S. Nat. Mus. for 1898, 1900, p. 907, fig. 



224. — Lampropeltis pyrrhomelas Van Denburgh, Proc. California Acad. 



Sci., ser. 2, vol. 6, 1896, p. 347. 

 1875. Ophibolus pyromelas Coues, Geog. Geol. Explor. Surv. W. lOOth Mer., 



vol. 5, chap. 5, p. 619. 

 1883. Ophiholus getulus pyromelo.nus Garman, S., Mem. Mus. Comp., Zool., vol. 



8, no. 3, pt. 1, pp. 67, 157. 



1901. Ophiholus zonatus Brown, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, p. 79.— 



DiTMARS, Reptile Book, 1907, pi. 103, fig. 6, pi. 107 (upper fig.).— Tucker, 

 Dang. Pois. Snakes U. S., 1912, p. 1, pi. 1, fig. F. 



1902. Lampropeltis pyrrhomelaena Stejneger, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 25, 



p. 152. — Van Denburgh and Slevin, Proc. California Acad. Sci., ser. 

 4, vol. 3, 1913, p. 415. 

 1917. Lampropeltis pyrrhomelaena pyrrhomelaena Stejneger and Barbour, 

 Check List, p. 88. 



Description. — The scutellation, based upon 32 specimens, is as 

 follows: Ventrals, 216 to 235; caudals, 61 to 79; supralabials, 7, 

 occasionally 8; infralabials, 10, sometimes 9, rarely 11 or 12; a single 

 preocular; 2, rarely 3, postoculars; temporals, 2 + 3 + 4, occasionally 

 an extra scute in any row; posterior chin shields usually shorter and 

 narrower than the anterior, and generally separated from each other 

 by 1 or 2 small scales; loreal distinctly longer than high; scale rows 

 23 or 25 on middle of body, formulae varying from 23-25-23-21-19 to 

 21-23-21-19-17. 



Body long, slender, varying but little in diameter; sides meeting 

 belly in a fairly well defined angle; head distinct from neck, widest 

 at the temples; snout rather long, tapering, and almost truncate; eye 

 proportionately larger than in other forms of the genus ; tail long and 

 slender, from 0.153 to 0.182 of the total length (males, 0.162 to 0.182; 

 average, 0.172; females, 0.153 to 0.176, average, 0.167). The longest 

 specimen examined came from the Huachuca Mountains in southern 

 Arizona and measured 1067 mm. 



The pattern (fig. 71) is of 35 to 71 whitish annuli on body and tail, 

 separated by black which is more or less completely split with red. 

 Some specimens are ringed throughout v/ith white, red, and black, in 

 others the red is continuous across the dorsal line only at the anterior 

 end of the body and near the anal region. The red widens at the 

 expense of the black on the lower rows of scales and usually crosses 

 the belly. The black becomes much narrower on the sides, and 

 traverses the belly or sometimes fails to reach it. The whitish annuli 



