36o The Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. Ill, No. 3, 



OHIO REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS.- 



;\iax :morse. 



The group of reptiles and batrachians offers a striking example 

 of a case where "a little learning is a dangerous thing." Xo 

 dependence can be placed in the records of the casual observer — 

 not that he is always willfully erroneous, but there are so nianv 

 ways in which one can make mistakes in identification of these 

 forms that he, only, is to be trusted to a degree of certainty who 

 has given some attention to the technicahties of the subject. The 

 ordinary observer groups all snakes into either poLsonous or non- 

 poisonous, and to the latter he gives the name of nuisances, never 

 thinking that this group of non- poisonous reptiles can be divided 

 into beneficial and non-beneficial. To the farmer, who, of all 

 of us comes into closest contact with the reptiles and batrachians, 

 a knowledge of their good or evil is an important thing. To mj- 

 mind, the economical importance of these two groups is not to be 

 ranked below that of birds. 



For such reasons, I consider that a systematic survey of the 

 reptiles and batiachians of the State should be made. In other 

 States this need is being recognized, and in New York, Edwin C. 

 Eckel, late of the University of the State of New York, has pub- 

 lished an excellent State list, which places the knowledge of these 

 forms on a par with that of birds. In Ohio the fishes are already 

 in most excellent condition, and soon the birds will be likewise. 

 The remaining three groups— batrachians, reptiles and manunals 

 — are still to be worked up. 



The first attempt at a State list was that of Dr Jarred Potter 

 Kirtland, in the First Geological Survey of the vState, published 

 in 1833. In it he includes twenty-seven species of reptiles and 

 twenty-one of batrachians. In the introduction he makes the 

 remark that " no important additions to the class of reptiles can 

 be made." No list was published after this one of Dr. Kirtland' s 

 until 1879, when Dr. Smith, of Ann Arbor, Mich., gave the list 

 in the fourth volume of the Survey under Dr. Newberry. In 

 this list he enumerates thirtj'-seven species and sub-species of 

 reptiles and twent3--five of batrachians — this making an addition 

 of ten species of reptiles and four batrachians to Dr. Kirtland' s 

 list. This list — the last general list for the State - was written by 

 a man who had to obtain his information from the list of Dr. 

 Kirtland and what reports were furnished him 1)\- residents of 

 Ohio. No exact records are given as to the occurrence and 

 distribution of the forms except in a few cases. 



Mr. \\. X . Wilcox, then assistant in the Ohio Experimental 

 Station, ])ublished a list of the batrachia of Ohio in the Oftcrbcin 



=-'Rea(l liefoir llie oliioStatf Academy of Science, Nov . jyo?, Cohimlnis, O. 



