BUTLER'S GARTER SNAKE. 291 



he called E. brachystoma Cope. I have, through the courtesy 

 of Dr. Clark, examined three of these specimens and we both 

 agree that they are the same form as those which I identified as 

 E. butlcri. The only specimen of E. brachystoma ever recorded 

 is in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural 

 Sciences and Mr. Brown says of this specimen that, " There is 

 little ground for thinking it other than a dwarfed E. sirtalis 

 sirtalis" ('01, p. 28). After a comparison with specimens of 

 E. butlcri from here, Mr. Brown writes me as follows, " I have 

 reexamined the type of E. brachystoma Cope, and still find no 

 reason to believe it other than an anomalous E. sirtalis sirtalis. 

 Cope says ' it is small but not young,' I myself see no way to 

 determine this, it may or may not be so. The specimen was about 

 ready to shed when he got it, which of course obscured the 

 pattern. I cannot think it is the same as E. butlcri." 



Dr. Stejneger suggested ('94, p. 594) that the specimen col- 

 lected near Chicago in 1874, by Mr. E. W. Nelson, and labeled 

 by Davis and Rice E. vagrans ('83, p. 30), might prove to be 

 another specimen of butlcri, but through the courtesy of Dr. U. 

 S. Grant, Curator of the Museum at Northwestern University, 

 I have been able to examine this specimen, and it is undoubtedly 

 an E. vagraus. It differs from butlcri most noticeably in having 

 the dorsal scales in 2 I rows, 8 supralabials on the right side and 

 9 on the left, and in the larger number of urosteges and gastro- 

 steges, which are respectively 86 and 1 70. 



HABITS. 



Very little has been recorded on the habits of this snake. Its 

 movements as Mr. Reddick describes them, are extremely awk- 

 ward. It seems compelled to exert much effort in crawling, and 

 its efforts to escape capture are often ludicrous. In captivity it 

 takes readily to water, and is an exceedingly graceful swim- 

 mer. Its awkwardness in crawling, contrasted with its ease of 

 motion in water, together with the fact that all the specimens 

 recorded have been taken near water, bears out the statement of 

 Dr. Clark ('03, p. 87) that "Although not aquatic this species 

 likes water and is found only in its immediate vicinity." It is 

 one of the first Michigan snakes to come out in the spring ; a 



