From most of the vast area occupied by _parietalis_, material has not been available to us, and our concept of this subspecies is based chiefly on specimens and living material from Kansas and northeastern Colorado. A total of 520 live _parietalis_ has been examined from the University of Kansas Natural History Reservation some 130 miles south and a little east of the type locality in Nebraska. These probably differ but little from typical specimens. The range of individual variation in pattern is especially notable. In those from the Reservation, the ground color varies from dull olive-brown to almost jet black. The markings on the dorsolateral area vary in color, in shade and in extent. These marks are chiefly confined to the skin between the scales of rows three to nine. Although most typically these marks are of some shade of red (hence the name "red-sided garter snake"), they may be pale buff, or pale greenish yellow, or may even have a bluish tint. In approximately ten per cent of the specimens from the Reservation there is no red at all in the pattern, which hence is similar to that of _T. s. sirtalis_ in the eastern United States. Only a minority have all the dorsolateral marks red, and in some of these specimens the marks higher on the sides are progressively paler red, having a bleached out appearance. Most typically the marks between rows three to six are some shade of red while the smaller marks between rows six to nine are pale--yellowish, greenish, or buffy. In some the pale area of the lateral stripe is in varying degrees suffused with red, which may extend onto the edges of the ventrals and even to the underside of the tail.