REVISIONARY ADDENDA 



Introduction 



If ever I felt like an arm-chair naturalist, it has been during the preparation 

 of these revisionary addenda for the Reptiles of Ohio. Since my departure 

 from the Buckeye State in 1935, I have returned for visits on only a few occa- 

 sions, and most of my personal field work of recent years has been confined to 

 the South and to the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Although I have kept more or 

 less in touch with Ohio herpetology, a very large part of the data herewith 

 presented is based upon the published works of others, on notes that have been 

 very graciously turned over to me, and upon the many specimens that have 

 been captured, preserved, and added to museum and personal collections. My 

 role has been merely that of compiler, and I could not have undertaken it 

 without the hearty cooperation of the many friends and colleagues to whom 

 I acknowledge my indebtedness on pages 205 and 206. 



When Dr. John D. Mizelle, editor of The American Midland Naturalist, 

 notified me of his intention to reprint the Ohio reptile report, I urged him to 

 include additional information. So much field work has been done and so 

 many noteworthy records have been accumulated during the past decade, that 

 it seemed a shame not to summarize them. This Dr. Mizelle has kindly per- 

 mitted, and the information that follows may be considered as supplemental 

 to what was published originally in 1938 and which has been reprinted on the 

 preceding pages. 



Circumstances have prevented me from journeying to Ohio to examine all 

 the specimens that have been added to collections in recent years, but the vast 

 majority of them have been borrowed and e.xamined in detail. Hence, any 

 errors in identification may be blamed upon me. In those instances wherein 

 I have not seen the specimens myself, the persons who have checked or pub- 

 lished upon them are mentioned. In the cases of the more common species 

 it has seemed superfluous to attempt making additional scale counts, but the 

 rarer forms have been studied in detail, and so have all specimens of Opheo- 

 drys rernalis. Coluber constrictor, and Storeria dekayi, each of which species 

 has intergrading populations in Ohio. Items of general interest (among all 

 species) have been recorded and are noted in the text; these include measure- 

 ments of very large or very small specimens, comments upon aberrant colora- 

 tions or patterns, data that support or contradict premises propounded in the 

 original edition, etc. 



Ohio specimens have found their way into a number of museums and 

 private collections besides those mentioned on pages 2 and 3, and a few com- 

 pletely new collections have been created. The following list is chiefly supple- 

 mental, but it also includes those institutions that now use a different combina- 

 tion of initials to designate their specimens than they did in 1938: 



(CA) — Chicago Academy of Sciences, Chicago, Illinois — formerly CAS. 



(CNHM) — Chicago Natural History Museum, Chicago, Illinois — foimerly FMNH. 



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