THE REPTILES OF OHIO 59 



tail was vibrated rapidly when the snake was alarmed or excited, and the musk 

 glands exuded a fluid with an unpleasant cxlor. If a large, struggling example 

 were allowed to coil about one's arm it would squeeze so tightly as to be 

 uncomfortable and to interfere with circulation. 



In many parts of its range the pilot black snake was found in association 

 with the copperhead and timber rattlesnake. A superstition maintains that it 

 "pilots" these venomous snakes to safety in time of danger. A pilot black 

 snake unearthed in a sawdust pile with two copperheads was bitten near the 

 middle of the body by one of the latter but there were no apparent ill effects. 

 Specimens were collected from March to October with May as the leading 

 month. There is only one record each for March and April, and the latter 

 was a specimen found in hibernation with two racers. 



The pilot black snake feeds almost exclusively upon mammals, birds and 

 eggs, although Surface (1906, 160) records insects and the wood frog as well. 

 Mammals eaten include red squirrels, chipmunks, shrews, weasels, opossum, 

 house mice, meadow mice (Surface, loc. cit.); mice (Hay, 1892a, 503); 

 cotton-tail rabbit (Ditmars 1936, 232); full grown red squirrel (Ditmars, 



1929, 89) . Birds recorded are robin, red-winged blackbird, sparrow and the 

 eggs of chickens and wild birds (Surface, loc. cit.). The stomach of an Ohio 

 specimen from Franklin County contained two juvenile meadow mice (Micro- 

 tus) and a quail egg, and another from Athens County contained a white- 

 footed wood mouse (Peromyscus. ) A specimen from Ottawa County had two 

 flickers about three-fourths grown and two smaller birds in its stomach. Cap- 

 tives ate mice, rats, sparrows and eggs. 



In subduing its prey the pilot black snake throws one or more coils of its 

 body about its victim at the instant it seizes it in its mouth. The action is 

 completed so rapidly as to be bewildering to the observer. Death comes through 

 suffocation rather than by the crushing of bones with subsequent puncturing 

 of vital organs. A six foot pilot snake easily can kill and swallow an average 

 rat. The eggs of domestic poultry taken by large captives are swallowed a 

 distance of a half foot or more where the muscles crush the shell with an 

 audible sound. Usually the shell is swallowed but on two occasions it was 

 disgorged. 



This species is oviparous. A female 55% inches in length, collected June 

 25, 1932, near Woodslield, Monroe County, laid 12 eggs July 1, 1932. These 

 were white, capsule-shaped and with smooth shells like thin, soft leather. At 

 first they were coated with a moist substance, but after a few minutes' exposure 

 to the air this dried and acted as an adhesive, fastening the eggs to one an- 

 other. Within a few hours the shells hardened somewhat and turned slightly 

 yellow. The lengths of the eggs varied from 41 to 50, average 45.5 mm.; 

 widths from 20 to 24, average 21.3 mm. Another female, 53% inches in 

 length, collected in Wyandot County June 5, 1930, died in captivity July 19, 



1930. Dissection revealed the presence of 22 eggs which were nearly ready to 

 be laid and which measured 38 to 48, average 40.8 mm., in length, and 21 to 

 24, average 22 mm., in width. 



