Banded Racer

Zamenis lateralis, (Hallowell)

Colouration: Dark brown or black, with a single yellow stripe on each side of the body, extending from the neck to the tail. On brown specimens the stripes are narrowly margined with black.
Dimensions: Attains a length of five, rarely six feet.
Distribution: Arizona and southern California; probably northern Mexico.
Habits: The writer has had but one living specimen. It was very nervous and when approached would dash frantically about its cage, its head coming repeatedly in violent contact with the glass as it endeavoured to rush through it. This specimen was twice induced to eat very young birds, but lived only a few months.

Slightly stouter than the preceding species. The scales are in seventeen rows. The colouration renders the species very easy to determine.

The abdomen is yellow; there are a few dark blotches under the chin and throat. Above, the head is dark; there is a pale line from the nostril to the eye; the upper lip plates are pale.