Type.—No type specimen is known. Cope (1861: 300 and 1887: 72) stated that the specimen was from the southern Mexican Plateau and that it was collected by Carlos Sartorius. Smith and Taylor (1945: 108 and 1950: 348) gave the type locality as Jalapa, Veracruz. Although this locality was the source of many specimens sent to the United States by Sartorius, it is not within the known range of lineaticollis, and therefore cannot appropriately be thought of as the type locality. In the absence of a type specimen and a justifiable type locality, I hereby designate as a neotype, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, No. 114668. This specimen was collected 24 kilometers northwest of Ciudad Oaxaca, Oaxaca, on February 29, 1956, by William E. Duellman. It is an adult female having 229 ventrals, 67 caudals, and long black neck-stripes followed posteriorly by 23 light-centered dorsal body-blotches.
Diagnosis.—This subspecies is characterized by the presence of continuous dark paravertebral stripes on the anterior part of the body, and light-centered dorsal body-blotches and lateral intercalary spots ([Pl. 45, Fig. 2]). There are 229 to 258 ventrals, 54 to 72 caudals, and 23 to 45 dorsal body-blotches posterior to the neck-stripes. The young are colored like the adults.
Variation.—Specimens from the southern part of the range in Oaxaca have 229 to 245 ventrals (average 238.3); to the north on the Mexican Plateau in the state of Michoacán seven specimens have 231 to 243 (average 237.1) ventrals. In the relatively isolated mountain ranges of the Sierra del Sur in Guerrero and the Sierra de Coalcomán in southern Michoacán the ranges of variation and average numbers of ventrals are, respectively, 234 to 258 (245.8) and 236 to 246 (242.2). The longest neck-stripes are found in specimens from Oaxaca and Guerrero; nevertheless, some specimens from the Mexican Plateau in Michoacán and three of the four specimens from the Sierra de Coalcomán have neck-stripes equally long. One specimen from 40 kilometers north of Ciudad México and several from the vicinity of Tancítaro, Michoacán, have rather shorter neck-stripes. One specimen from Dos Aguas, Michoacán, has the neck-stripes partially fragmented into rows of spots as in gibsoni.
On the basis of specimens from Tancítaro, Michoacán, Schmidt and Shannon (1947: 79) described the subspecies brevilineata, which they diagnosed as differing from lineaticollis in having fewer ventrals and shorter neck-stripes. The present data suggest that the characters used to diagnose the subspecies are variable not only in Michoacán, but throughout the range of the species. Consequently, Pituophis (deppei) brevilineata Schmidt and Shannon (1947) is placed in the synonymy of Pituophis lineaticollis lineaticollis Cope (1861).
Distribution.—The southern part of the Mexican Plateau in the states of Michoacán, México, and Morelos, the Sierra de Coalcomán in southern Michoacán, and the Sierra del Sur in Guerrero and Oaxaca.
Specimens examined.—Total of 25, as follows: Guerrero: Acahuizotla, USNM 46537; Chilpancingo, CNHM 38356-9, UIMNH 35000, UMMZ 85724-5; Omiltemi, USNM 46462. México: 40 km. N of Ciudad México, UIMNH 36223. Michoacán: Acuaro de las Lleguas, UMMZ 112565; Dos Aguas, UMMZ 118786, 119567-8; 40 km. E of Morelia, UMMZ 101932; Tancítaro, CNHM 37126, 39069-72. Morelos: 1 km. W of Tepoztlán, UMMZ 101931; Tres Cumbres, UIMNH 35001. Oaxaca: 25 km. N of El Soledad, UIMNH 6210; 24 km. NW of Oaxaca, UMMZ 114668; San Pedro Quiechapa, USNM 110893.
Pituophis lineaticollis gibsoni Stuart, new combination
Pituophis deppei gibsoni Stuart, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 67, p. 172, August 5, 1954.
Type.—University of Michigan Museum of Zoology No. 107060, obtained by Colvin Gibson. Type locality: Yepocapa, Chimaltenango, Guatemala.
Diagnosis.—This race is characterized by paired, elongated, pale-centered, paravertebral spots on the anterior part of the body. Posterior to the paired spots are 22 to 27 dorsal body-blotches; these and the lateral intercalary spots have pale centers. There are 234 to 246 ventrals and 57 to 65 caudals.