96 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



sionally this may be so pronounced on the median row as to impart the appear- 

 ance (collectively) of a narrow light dorsal stripe. 



The entire under surface is uniformly whitish except for the tips of the 

 ventrals which may be suffused with the dorsal color. Labials are whitish 

 with the upper ones sometimes marked with a few black dots. 



Range. — New Jersey to South Carolina and west to Tennessee and southern 

 Ohio. This species has been taken in Ohio only in the southern part of the 

 unglaciated plateau and in the till plains near the Ohio River (Map 22) . 

 Locality records are: 



Clermont County: near Miamiville (CSNH 2145). Hocking County: Salt 

 Creek Twp. (AS; OSM 246.1; TZS 1000). Jackson County: Jackson (CSNH 

 1643). Ross County: Richmondale (OSM 55). Scioto County: 8 mi. SW of 

 Portsmouth (TZS 1137). 



Habitat and Habits. — The small number of specimens of Virginia which 

 were collected indicate it is one of the rarest of Ohio snakes. Those for which 

 habitat notes are available were discovered under stones, except one found 

 lying dead along a road. In Salt Creek Twp., Hocking County, two were 

 taken under flat stones on open hillsides near woods. Another was under a 

 large sandstone slab on a wooded hillside along the Ohio River in Scioto 

 County. A worm snake found with the latter specimen crawled away rapidly 

 while the Virginia, in contrast, remained motionless. It made no attempt to 

 bite but when held by body and tail it pulled back its lips in such a way as to 

 expose their inner surfaces and its teeth to view. 



The food of this snake consists of worms and insect larvae (Ditmars, 1936, 

 180). Captives fed well upon earthworms. The young are born alive; Dit- 

 mars (loc. cit.) records the birth of 7 to a North Carolina specimen on 

 August 15. 



Thamnophis hutleri (Cope) 



Butler's Garter Snake 



Description. — A small, slender to stout-bodied snake attaining a length of 

 about a foot and a half to two feet. Largest adult Ohio specimen ( 9 ), 25 

 inches in length; smallest newly born juvenile, 5 inches. Head small and but 

 little distinct from neck. Eye medium in size. Head plates normal. Two nasals, 

 the nostril lateral and between them. One loreal. Body stoutest in adult 

 females; tail medium stout and tapering to a point. The tail in males 23% 

 to 26.2%, average 24.9% of the total length of the snake; in females 21.4% 

 to 23.8%, average 22.3%. 



Dorsal scale rows usually 19-17, occasionally 17-19-17 or 17-19-17-15; the 

 scales keeled. Upper labials 6 or 7, rarely 8; lower labials most often 8, 

 occasionally 9, rarely 7 or 10. Oculars usually 1-3, occasionally 1-2 (1-1 in a 

 single specimen from Toledo) . One temporal in the first row; one large, or 

 one large and one small in the second row. Ventrals in males 138 to 148, 

 average 142; in females 130 to 143, average 137.5. Subcaudals in males 60 

 to 72, average 66.5; in females 53 to 60, average 56.6. Anal plate single. 



