THE SCARLET KING SNAKE. 
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parts are silvery white, boldly checkered with black. The length of the Corn-Snake varies 
from five to six feet. 
The Spotted Races is another name for the Corn-Snake of the South, its northern limit 
being the Carolinas. 
Anothee example of this genus is the Thunder Snake, so called from the threatening 
black and white of its body, which seems to have a lowering aspect, and to menace poison as 
the thunder-cloud augurs lightning. Sometimes it is known by the name of King Snake, or 
Chain Snake, the latter title being given because the black and white markings of the body 
are arranged alternately in a chain-like fashion. 
The Thunder Snake is mostly found in moist and shady places, where it feeds upon small 
quadrupeds, reptiles, and birds if it can catch them. The portentous aspect of this Snake 
is fully carried out by its character, which is fierce, quarrelsome, and aggressive to a degree 
THUNDER SNAKE.- Ophibolus getulus. 
seldom found even in poisonous Serpents, and in a fangless Snake not at all to be expected. If 
put in a box with other Serpents, it always quarrels and fights with them ; and in one instance, 
when a Thunder Snake had been introduced into a cage where a miliary rattlesnake was resid- 
ing, it attacked the venomous reptile in spite of its poisonous weapons, overpowered, killed, 
and ate it. Some persons think that a deadly feud always rages between the Thunder Snake 
and rattlesnake, but the truth of this supposition is somewhat dubious. In the instance just 
mentioned, the creature would probably have treated a Serpent of any species in precisely the 
same manner. 
The Thunder Snake is colored after a very peculiar fashion. All along the body run 
alternate bands of jetty -black and pure white, the black being very broad and the white very 
narrow, and not reaching completely across the body. The head is also mottled and scribbled 
with black upon white after a curious and most complicated fashion. The full length of this 
Serpent is about four feet. 
The Scaelet King Snake ( Ophibolus doliatus ) inhabits Florida, and extends northward 
only as far as North Carolina. Its length is three feet six inches. Five other varieties of this 
genus are recorded as North American, found in the Southwestern States. 
