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The description I found in 1920 Americana for a "house snake or milk snake" seems to match the Peterson field guide for this variety. See Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). Encyclopedia Americana. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help) Both Peterson and Americana talk about 3 (Peterson mentions the possibility of 5) series of black-bordered brown (Peterson mention reddish-brown as a possibility) blotches on a gray (Peterson says it can also be tan) ground along the length of the snake. Banding has no part in the description. Also mentioned by both is a checkered underbelly (Peterson has a figure). That feature would be good to include. I think the current description of bands alternating with saddles is misleading. It is hard to imagine topologically. The "band" has to split to accommodate both the "saddles" and the lateral blotches. The latter are now not even mentioned. Possibly "saddle" is descriptive for the dorsal series of blotches, but "band" should be discarded altogether. Blotches seems more reasonable, though apparently the pattern varies and "saddle" can be very appropriate in some situations, as with the specimen photograph in the article. Bob Burkhardt (talk) 15:41, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). Encyclopedia Americana.