20 ALEXANDER G. RUTHVEN. 



has recorded the birth of a brood as early as August 7, 1 and on 

 August 25, 1912, a young specimen collected at Ann Arbor and 

 at the most but a few days old was received by the museum. It 

 is very probable that the length of the gestation period is rather 

 exact for the species, that the snakes breed approximately as 

 soon as the weather is warm enough to permit them to become 

 active, and that the breeding season is about a month long. In 

 southern Michigan the snakes rarely appear as early as the 

 second week in March and usually before the first week in 

 April, so that in this region the general breeding season probably 

 extends from the latter part of March over most of April. 



1 Ruthven, A. G., loc. cit., pp. 90-91. 



