I just laid my hands on the original publication I had in my bookcase concerning "
Lampropeltis getulus sticticeps". Authors were Thomas Barbour and William L. Engels (not Engel). Title of the publication is "Proceedings of the New England Zoological Club,
TWO INTERESTING NEW SNAKES. September 18, 1942. Vol XX, pp. 101-104.
Holotype. --M.C.Z., 46,469, from the Knoll, midway between Okracoke Inlet and Hatteras Inlet, Okracoke Island, North Carolina. Collected by W. L. Engels, 8th of June, 1941.
Quote:
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At first sight this might seem slender evidence for describing a new race, but the evidence that we deal here with a well-marked physiological form is so interesting that this fact alone would warrant its being named. For this snake, unlike all its allies, is not ophiophagous. Kept in captivity for a long time, as it was, it refused every sort of snake offered it for food and fed regularly on mice. Probably it was forced to do this on an island where, as far as is known, other snakes are absent and beach mice swarm. A glance at the figures will show how extraordinarily Pituophis-like if the head of our new form, and Pituophis, of course, is a rodent feeder. Whereas King Snakes normally twine about their prey, this snake has acquired the Coluber-like habit of seizing its prey and then dragging it to some position where it may be pressed to death with the body against some firmly set object. This its feeding habits are those of a Black Snake and not of a King Snake. This fact was confirmed by repeated experiments of the junior author.
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Not sure if this could be considered as an old wives' tale since this was the
ORIGINAL description of the single specimen that spawned the name
L. g. sticticeps. Perhaps this one specimen was the only one EVER to match that exact description.
The publication also describes a new rat snake they are calling "
Elaphe quadrivitatta parallela". I did catch one rat snake on Hatteras Island, but honestly it didn't really catch my eye, so I just released it where I found it. It was a young specimen, and from what I remember it was gray colored, but I was searching for the elusive "sticticeps" and just didn't pay it much attention.
Anyway, FWIW.