including middorsal row of scales and little more than adjacent half of row on either side of it; dorsolateral area olive-brown with row of black spots on its lower half, these spots elliptical, averaging about size of one scale on anterior part of body, smaller posteriorly; adjacent spots separated by interspaces of approximately their own length, irregular black markings on upper half of dorsolateral area not forming definite spots but fused longitudinally to form continuous black border to dorsal stripe; crescent-shaped red markings in areas between scale rows three to nine, these markings invading edges of scales, and themselves having ill-defined edges blending into the darker ground color; lateral stripe pale, yellowish gray, limited to scale rows two and three for most of its length, but including rows four and five in neck region; row of irregular black marks low on each side, with each mark centering on anterior part of lower half of scale of first row but overlapping onto corners of adjacent ventrals; approximately every other scale of first row so marked; ventral surface pale, suffused with bluish tint; most of ventrals marked on anterior edges with pair of semicircular black spots, each situated about two-thirds of distance from mid-line to lateral edge of ventral; these marks diminishing in size and finally disappearing on posterior part of body; ventral surface otherwise immaculate.

Lepidosis normal for genus and species, with preoculars single on each side, supralabials 7-7, infralabials 8-8, ventrals 159, anal entire, subcaudals 77 (including terminal spine), paired except for second, third and fourth; scale rows 19 from neck slightly beyond mid-body, fifth on left side ending opposite 86th ventral; length from snout to vent 670 mm., tail 202 mm.

Comparisons.—From T. s. parietalis, T. s. ornata differs in its consistently pale ground color, olive instead of dark brown or black. In respect to color-pattern ornata stands in approximately the same relation to parietalis as, farther west, T. s. infernalis, a pale subspecies of the California coast, stands in relation to T. s. fitchi. Nevertheless, fitchi consistently has a dark ground color, whereas parietalis is highly variable, and the color of an occasional specimen (for example KU 17032 from Douglas County, Kansas) matches ornata in olive coloration. These unusually pale specimens of parietalis differ from ornata in not having a continuous black edge along each side of dorsal stripe; black pigment of this area is concentrated into rows of spots alternating with those of lower series. From T. s. infernalis, ornata differs in having paired black spots on the ventrals and in having more than three series of red crescents on dorsolateral area of each side.

Remarks.—The type of ornata seems to have been lost, and the available information concerning it is far from satisfactory. In the original description, Baird listed three specimens, purportedly from "Indianola, Texas" (J. H. Clark, 438), from the Río Grande, Texas (J. H. Clark, 768), and from near San Antonio, Texas (Dr. Kennerley, no number). None of these three specimens could have been ornata as conceived of by us because all were collected outside the geographic range of ornata. However, there was also included a plate with a drawing of a specimen and a reference to an earlier paper (Baird and Girard, 1853) in which a specimen obtained by Col. Graham "Between San Antonio and El Paso" was described. Smith and Brown (1946:72) have presented evidence that this specimen figured (rather than any of the three specifically mentioned) served as a basis for the plate, and they therefore considered it to be the holotype of ornata, even though Baird referred this specimen to "Eutaenia parietalis Say" in the same paper (1859) in which the original description of ornata was published. Cope (1900:1079) listed under Eutaenia sirtalis parietalis a specimen, U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 960, from El Paso, obtained by Col. Graham, and referred to it as a type (without specifying of what it was the type). Smith and Brown (loc. cit.) interpreted this statement by Cope as further evidence that the specimen in question should be considered the type of ornata, and they restricted the type locality, originally stated as "between San Antonio and El Paso" to "El Paso." Actually all valid records of the species sirtalis from the vicinity of the Río Grande are from the El Paso region or from farther north.

It is with some misgivings that we herewith accept the interpretation proposed by Smith and Brown regarding the applicability of the name ornata and the designation by these authors of the now missing specimen from the region of El Paso as the holotype of that form. The evidence linking the name ornata with the New Mexican subspecies is tenuous; there is some doubt as to the provenance of U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 960 (the supposed type), and even more doubt as to whether this is the specimen depicted in the plate that formed part of the original description.

Cope (1900:1076) recognized as a distinct subspecies, Eutaenia sirtalis dorsalis, the same population that we recognize herein as T. s. ornata, and Smith (1942:98) considered the name dorsalis to be a synonym of T. s. parietalis. However, it is almost certain that both authors misapplied the name, since the type of Baird's and Girard's (1853:31) Eutainia dorsalis was obtained in Coahuila, Mexico, between Monclova and the Río Grande, far south of the known range limits of T. sirtalis in Texas. The description does not fit T. sirtalis and almost certainly pertains to another species.

Specimens examined.—Univ. of Kansas Mus. Nat. Hist. (hereafter abbreviated to "KU") Nos. 5479 to 5497, from the north end of Elephant Butte Reservoir, Sierra County, New Mexico, and 8592 and 8593 from near Las Lunas, Valencia County, New Mexico; Univ. of New Mexico Mus. Nos. 571 and 572 (J. S. Findley) from 2 miles west and 1/4 mile north of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, New Mexico, and No. 4021 (E. D. Flaherty) from 1 mile west and 1/2 mile south of Isleta, Bernalillo County, New Mexico.

Description of T. s. parietalis

From most of the vast area occupied by parietalis, material has not been available to us, and our concept of this subspecies is based chiefly on specimens and living material from Kansas and northeastern Colorado. A total of 520 live parietalis has been examined from the University of Kansas Natural History Reservation some