The Systematic Status of Eumeces pluvialis Cope, and Noteworthy Records of Other Amphibians and Reptiles From Kansas and Oklahoma BY HOBART M. SMITH University of Kansas Publications Museum of Natural History Volume 1, No. 2, pp. 85-89 August 15, 1946 UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAWRENCE 1946 UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, Donald S. Farner, Donald F. Hoffmeister Volume 1, No. 2, pp. 85-89 Published August 15, 1946 UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Lawrence, Kansas PRINTED BY FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER TOPEKA, KANSAS 1946 [Illustration] 21-2765 The Systematic Status of Eumeces pluvialis Cope, and Noteworthy Records of Other Amphibians and Reptiles from Kansas and Oklahoma By HOBART M. SMITH A number of noteworthy items have come to attention in the course of a survey of material for a handbook on the herpetology of Kansas. Some of the items, which follow, can be recorded here more appropriately than in the handbook. =Eumeces anthracinus pluvialis= Cope Recent material in addition to information presented in Taylor's monograph of _Eumeces_ (Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 23, 1935) reveals that _Eumeces anthracinus_ is composed of three geographically distinct populations: One occurs from western New York to northern Georgia, and west to Kentucky, in the Appalachian uplands or northward of them; a second centers about the Ozark uplands but extends into northwestern Louisiana, eastern Texas, central Oklahoma, eastern Kansas, and nearly as far east as the Mississippi river in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri; the third population occurs in extreme southern Alabama and Mississippi. These populations differ in at least the color of the young. Specimens from the eastern area are marked at birth like the adults; those from the western area are black at birth and develop stripes as they grow older; unfortunately young specimens from the southern area are not known. Obviously at least two races are involved, the eastern and the western. Whether the southern population belongs to one of these races or is distinct is unknown. Until this point is settled the name for the western race will remain in doubt. The eastern race is the typical one, _Eumeces a. anthracinus_ (Baird) (Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1 (ser. 2):294, 1850; type locality North Mountain, Carlisle, Pennsylvania). The southern population has been named _pluvialis_ by Cope (Ann. Rept. U. S. Nat. Mus., 74:663-664, 1900; type locality Mobile, Alabama). Unfortunately no name is available for the western population. It may either be called _Eumeces anthracinus pluvialis_, or be given a new name, according to the ultimate decision on its consubspecificity with the southern population. I suggest retention of the name _pluvialis_ at least until a more careful study indicates the necessity of further change.