BRANSON : SNAKES OF KANSAS, 419 



edge of the head, through the middle of the second row of su- 

 pralabial scales, A narrow yellowish-white line passes from 

 the third labial or begins just below the lowest part of the orbit, 

 and passing backward parallel with the first stripe crosses the 

 angle of the mouth at the seventh labial and meets the first 

 stripe on the side of the neck, where it is confluent with yel- 

 lowish white of throat. On the lower labials are three short, 

 nearly vertical, light bars ; on fourth, sixth, and seventh. The 

 rest of the jaw itself, as well as the interval between the stripes 

 on the sides of the head, dark purplish brown, of which color 

 is also the space in front and below the eyes. General color 

 above dull, dark chestnut brown. On each side a series of 

 twenty or thirty narrow, vertical, purplish black bars one or 

 two scales wide. Of these, sometimes two, contiguous to each 

 other on the same side, are united into an arch, enclosing a 

 space, the center of which is rather duskier than the ground 

 color ; at others corresponding bars from the opposite sides unite 

 and form half-rings, encircling the body. Sometimes there is a 

 lighter shade bordering the dark bars. Beneath black, blotched 

 with yellowish white. 



The Water Moccasin, as the name implies, is a water snake. 

 Holbrook states that it is found about damp, swampy places or 

 in water — far from which it is never observed. They attack 

 everything that comes within their reach, erecting the head and 

 opening the mouth for some seconds before striking. Their food 

 is principally fish. They are ovoviviparous. Their poison is 

 proportionally less virulent than that of the Rattlesnake and 

 Copperhead, but on account of their large size they are danger- 

 ous. They sometimes reach a length of four feet. 



Probably occurs in the southeastern part of Kansas. 



Ancistrodon contortrix Linnaeus. 



Copperhead, 

 Boa contortrix Linnaius, Syst. Nat., I, 1766, p. 373. 

 Trigonocephalus contortrix Holbrook, N. Amer. Herp., Ill, 1842, p. 39, pi. 



VIII. 

 Agkistrodon contortrix Baird and Girard, Cat. N. Amer, Rept., Pt. I, Serp., 



1853, p. 17. 

 Ancistrodon contortrix Baird, Serp. N. Y., 1854, p. 13. 



Head triangular. Cephalic scutella nine. Occipitals divided 

 into several irregular scales posteriorly. Superior labials eight, 



