THE REPTILES OF OHIO II 



lying largely between Toledo and Sandusky, very little of the lake plains 

 remain in anything approaching their original condition. 



A few areas of special interest are found within the boundaries of the lake 

 plains. West and southwest of Toledo is a sandy tract known as the "Oak 

 Openings" which covers approximately 150 square miles. The soil is unsuited 

 for many crops and the district has been somewhat less disturbed than others. 

 It supports a growth of deciduous trees of a dwarfed and scrubby nature, and 

 in it two species of reptiles are common which otherwise exhibit a rather lim- 

 ited distribution in northwestern Ohio. These are Heterodon contortrix and 

 Terrapene Carolina. The same two species also occur, however, in and near 

 the sandy portions of fossil and modern beaches such as are found near 

 Portage, Wood County, and on Cedar Point, Erie County, respectively. 



The Catawba and Marblehead peninsulas in Ottawa County and the 

 islands adjacent to them in Lake Erie are also of interest. Here the lime- 

 stone, which underlies much of western Ohio, outcrops and provides excellent 

 hiding places for snakes. Crotaliis horrtdus horridus still maintains itself here, 

 although it appears to have been exterminated elsewhere in Ohio, save in the 

 wilder portions of the southern counties. Diadophis punctatus edwardsii is 

 numerous in the area and the common water snakes of the islands are sub- 

 specifically distinct from those of the mainland. 



Comment on the lake marshes has been made above. East of Sandusky, 

 Lake Erie is bordered to a large extent by low rock cliffs or clay banks, but 

 the mouths of some of the rivers are marshy. In Lake County is found the 

 sizable Mentor Marsh. Much of the Maumee River valley was originally the 

 "Great Black Swamp" of pioneer days. Although the latter region has long 

 since been cleared and drained, many of the more terrestrial species of reptiles 

 such as Coluber constrictor flaviventris and Lampropeltis triangulutn triangu- 

 lum apparently are not yet common in it. 



Collecting in the lake plains was good in many localities and certain of the 

 aquatic and semi-aquatic reptiles were present in abundance. Of the one 

 species of lizard, seventeen of snakes and eight of turtles known from the lake 

 plains all were found to be common in at least one or two localities. In Ohio 

 only three forms occur exclusively or almost exclusively in the lake plains. 

 These are Natrix sipedon insidariirn, Elaphe vulpina and Einys blandingii. 

 The first appears to be peculiar to the Lake Erie islands and the second has 

 been taken only in and near the lake marshes. Blanding's turtle, while it 

 enters the till plains in the extreme northwestern corner of the state, seems to 

 be otherwise confined to the lake plains. It is common in most of the coun- 

 ties bordering Lake Erie and those lying north of the Maumee River. 



2. The till plains cover the major part of western Ohio. They are bounded 

 on the east by the eastern limit of the Upper Devonian shales and rest upon 

 the limestone bedrock of the Cincinnati geanticline. The entire ares has been 

 glaciated and in many places the till reaches a considerable thickness. Drain- 

 age is chiefly to the Ohio River but a few of the streams flow northward into 

 Lake Erie or into rivers emptying into it. The headwaters of the Wabash 



