These specimens from Colorado also differ from typical _parietalis_ in having the black spots on the anterolateral edges of the ventrals less developed. In three of the 45 these spots are lacking entirely and in four others they are few and small. In the majority of specimens the spots are from 1/4 to 1/5 the length of the ventrals. In approximately one-third of the specimens the spots are absent posterior to mid-body. In five specimens obtained at Sheridan Lake, Pennington County, South Dakota, in the Black Hills in August, 1960, dorsolateral areas are dark with red crescents small and inconspicuous, and with black spots either lacking from the ventrals or only faintly developed. In two specimens from Sundance, Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, the red crescents are small and inconspicuous also. In one of these specimens, KU 28028, small black spots are present in the corners of the ventrals, but in the other, KU 23654, the spots are absent.
In having the dorsolateral area consistently black, with the three uppermost series of red crescents reduced or absent, and in having the ventral black spots reduced or absent, these specimens from Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota differ from more eastern and more typical _parietalis_, and tend toward _fitchi_, even more strongly than some Idaho specimens tend toward _parietalis_. Nevertheless, all things considered, the Continental Divide is the most logical boundary between the two subspecies, even though occasional individuals and even local populations deviate from the general trend of characters from east to west.
Dr. Doris M. Cochran of the United States National Museum kindly furnished information concerning the type specimen of _Eutainia dorsalis_ formerly in the National Museum collection but now lost. Dr. James S. Findley of the University of New Mexico and Dr. Ralph J. Raitt of New Mexico State University contributed habitat notes and records of specimens and loaned us critical specimens of _T. sirtalis_ from New Mexico. Drs. George F. Baxter of the University of Wyoming, John M. Legler of the University of Utah, and Wilmer W. Tanner of Brigham Young University kindly provided us with information concerning the specimens in the collections of their respective institutions, and their personal observations concerning the distribution of garter snakes in their states. Alice V. Fitch, Chester W. Fitch and Donald S. Fitch assisted in the collection of fresh specimens in Oregon and Utah and the unsuccessful search of many a mosquito-infested meadow in southern Wyoming and northwestern Colorado in July, 1959. Dr. R. G. Webb made available his MS on reptiles of Oklahoma.