_Comparisons._--From _T. s. parietalis_, _T. s. ornata_ differs in its consistently pale ground color, olive instead of dark brown or black. In respect to color-pattern _ornata_ stands in approximately the same relation to _parietalis_ as, farther west, _T. s. infernalis_, a pale subspecies of the California coast, stands in relation to _T. s. fitchi_. Nevertheless, _fitchi_ consistently has a dark ground color, whereas _parietalis_ is highly variable, and the color of an occasional specimen (for example KU 17032 from Douglas County, Kansas) matches _ornata_ in olive coloration. These unusually pale specimens of _parietalis_ differ from _ornata_ in not having a continuous black edge along each side of dorsal stripe; black pigment of this area is concentrated into rows of spots alternating with those of lower series. From _T. s. infernalis_, _ornata_ differs in having paired black spots on the ventrals and in having more than three series of red crescents on dorsolateral area of each side. _Remarks._--The type of _ornata_ seems to have been lost, and the available information concerning it is far from satisfactory. In the original description, Baird listed three specimens, purportedly from "Indianola, Texas" (J. H. Clark, 438), from the Rio Grande, Texas (J. H. Clark, 768), and from near San Antonio, Texas (Dr. Kennerley, no number). None of these three specimens could have been _ornata_ as conceived of by us because all were collected outside the geographic range of _ornata_. However, there was also included a plate with a drawing of a specimen and a reference to an earlier paper (Baird and Girard, 1853) in which a specimen obtained by Col. Graham "Between San Antonio and El Paso" was described. Smith and Brown (1946:72) have presented evidence that this specimen figured (rather than any of the three specifically mentioned) served as a basis for the plate, and they therefore considered it to be the holotype of _ornata_, even though Baird referred this specimen to "_Eutaenia parietalis_ Say" in the same paper (1859) in which the original description of _ornata_ was published. Cope (1900:1079) listed under _Eutaenia sirtalis parietalis_ a specimen, U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 960, from El Paso, obtained by Col. Graham, and referred to it as a type (without specifying of what it was the type). Smith and Brown (_loc. cit._) interpreted this statement by Cope as further evidence that the specimen in question should be considered the type of _ornata_, and they restricted the type locality, originally stated as "between San Antonio and El Paso" to "El Paso." Actually all valid records of the species _sirtalis_ from the vicinity of the Rio Grande are from the El Paso region or from farther north.