ZoologyVol. IV, No. 5

Issued March 14, 1906


ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE SPOTTED NIGHT
SNAKE, HYPSIGLENA OCHRORHYNCHUS, IN
CENTRAL CALIFORNIA; AND ON THE
SHAPE OF THE PUPIL IN THE
REPTILIAN GENUS ARIZONA


BY JOHN VAN DENBURGH

Curator of the Department of Herpetology.


On the Occurrence of the Spotted Night Snake, Hypsiglena ochrorhynchus, in Central California

The little snake to which Cope, in 1860,[33] gave the name Hypsiglena ochrorhynchus was first described from specimens secured at Cape San Lucas, Lower California. It has since been found to range across Arizona and northern Mexico to Texas. As recently as 1893, so little was known of the distribution of this snake in California that Dr. Stejneger,[34] in recording the single specimen secured by the Death Valley Expedition in the Argus Range, Inyo County, California, thought that it added a species to the known fauna of the State. This snake had, however, already been taken at San Diego, California, as mentioned by Professor Cope[35] in 1883. More recently, the species has been recorded by Cope[36] from Witch Creek, San Diego County, and by myself[37] from the Cuyamaca Mountains, San Diego County; Strawberry Valley and San Jacinto, Riverside County, and Hesperia, San Bernardino County.