TABLE 6. Comparison of the Means of Some Characteristics of the Sample of _Tantilla gracilis_ from Kansas (Our Data) with Some of the Diagnostic Characteristics (Kirn _et al._, 1949:240) of _Tantilla gracilis gracilis_.
============================================================ |Diagnostic range for | Mean of the sample CHARACTERISTIC | _T. g. gracilis_ |("_T. g. hallowelli_") | | from Kansas ---------------+---------------------+---------------------- No. of | | subcaudals | 40-50 | 48.4 (N = 109) males | | | | Tail L./ | | Total L. | .160-.200 | .20 (N = 79) females | | | | Tail L./ | | Total L. | .200-.235 | .23 (N = 109) males | | ---------------+---------------------+----------------------
Smith and Sanders (1952:218) pointed out an error in the range of subcaudals in female _T. g. gracilis_ as stated in table 1 (p. 247) of Kirn _et al._ We add some additional corrections that should be made on the same page. In table two, column two ("Sex"), the words "male" and "female" are reversed for each characteristic. Also, in table two, column four ("Means from data of Force"), the means for caudals should be corrected from 33.61 to 43.61 in females and from 39.99 to 50.32 in males, as based on our recalculations from Force's data; we did not recalculate the means of Force's data for the other characteristics.
The discussion above demonstrates that the number of subcaudals and the ratio of tail length to total length are weak characteristics for diagnosing _T. g. gracilis_ and _T. g. hallowelli_. The only remaining diagnostic characteristic given by Kirn _et al._ (1949) is the number of ventrals. Nevertheless, a step-cline in the number of ventrals, if one exists, is yet to be demonstrated. Therefore, we completely agree with Dowling (1957:32), who stated that "... the overlap in each character is so great that any subspecific differences appear to be as yet undefined. It is here suggested that _T. gracilis_ be retained as binomial...."
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