22 
Transactions Texas Academy of* Science. 
yon find one with a pit in the upper jaw as described above, you can 
depend on it you have a poisonous snake to deal with, and the quicker' you 
kill it the better. 
Right here, I wish to enter a plea for the protection of the harmless 
or non-p'oisonous snakes. They are among the greatest of nature’s bene- 
factors to man and especially to the farmer. Observation has proved 
that their food consists largely of rats, mice, gophers, moles, and other 
destructive rodents ; many species live largely on crickets, centipedes and 
other noxious insects; while again other species destroy the poisonous 
snakes. Outside of the natural-born prejudice of mankind to the snake 
family — a prejudice which should be modified by education — nothing 
has ever been charged against the harmless snakes but an occasional raid 
on a hen’s nest by one or two of the larger species. 
ELAPS FULVIUS/ Linnceus. 
(Harlequin Snake.) 
Plate I. 
Prominent among the poisonous snakes of Texas is the Elays fulvius, 
locally known under the various names of “Barber-pole Snake,” “Thun- 
der and Lightning Snake,” “Candy-stick Snake,” “King Snake,” “Coral 
Snake” and “Harlequin Snake.” It is a beautiful, highly colored snake, 
and its actions belie its dangerous qualities. It is related to the Indian 
cobra, and must be treated with the respect due a dangerous enemy. 
DESCRIPTION. 
“The red may be considered as the ground color of the body, though 
the black rings occupy nearly as much space above as the red, so as to 
give the general appearance of a succession of red and black rings. The 
yellow is intermediate. The anterior part of the head from the posterior 
point of the vertical plate (frontal), embracing the orbits, is black, as is 
also the tip of the lower jaw. A yellow ring passes across the occipital 
(parietal) region down to the inferior surface of the head, embracing the 
space between the posterior rim of the eye and the angle of the mouth. 
Then comes a black ring covering eight dorsal scales, margined poste- 
riorly with yellow. From this region to the origin of the tail the black 
and red rings, from fourteen to nineteen in number each, alternate, being 
separated from each other by a narrow band of yellow. The black rings 
cover seven entire scales and two halves, the intermediate red space five 
entire scales and two halves, and the yellow either one and two half scales, 
or two halves only. Some red spaces may occasionally cover nine and ten 
scales. The tail is alternately black and yellow; the first caudal ring is 
