WESTERN RING-NECKED SNAKE Diadophis amabilis amabilis Baird and Girard

Field characters.—Size small, body diameter usually not larger than a lead pencil, total length usually under 15 inches (380 mm.). Upper surface plain slaty olive; a whitish or reddish collar around neck; under surface of body red (of varying hue in different specimens), marked with numerous fine dots of black. Scales on back smooth, in 15 (rarely 17) crosswise rows.

Occurrence.—Sparse resident at middle altitudes. Recorded at Pleasant Valley (Mus. Vert. Zool.) and in Yosemite Valley (Stejneger, North American Fauna, no. 7, 1893, p. 204). Inhabits shaded ground, keeping usually under leafy debris, logs, or boulders.

The Western Ring-necked Snake was not found by our party, but its presence in the Yosemite region is established by the two records of it given above. This is the smallest of all the snakes which occur in the Yosemite section; the usual run of individuals found measure 15 inches or less in total length, while the body diameter is usually less than 5/16 inch. The Western Ring-necked Snake is a quiet, inoffensive species, and feeds chiefly upon insects. An individual when suddenly uncovered, as when a stone or log is turned over, will sometimes lie with its brilliant undersurface uppermost and feign death. Under such circumstances, too, the tail of the snake is often curled in a tight spiral with the bright red under surface exposed.