THE REPTILES OF OHIO 233 



ning on objects overhanging the water; very few septemv'tttata were encoun- 

 tered at night during any season of the year. 



Wood states further that crayfish are the chief food item, and he bases 

 this concKision upon the examination of stomach contents, observations upon 

 material disgorged by freshly-captured specimens, and a sifting of the htera- 

 ture that has been published on this species. Most of the crayfish eaten, he 

 believes, are engulfed shortly after they have passed through ecdys's; some 

 Ttre taken dead, as carrion. In either condition the prey would be helpless. 

 Queen snakes probably do not often seize large active crayfish vvhich would be 

 capable of inflicting considerable damage. Specimens of septemvittata with 

 missing eyes or scarred heads and necks are rarely found. 



Duellman, who has also done much field work in the southwestern part of 

 Ohio, states (in a letter to me), "From all observations here in the Miami 

 Valley, we have found the only food taken by the queen snake is crayfish. 

 These are always found to have been swallowed tail first." 



Wood (op. cit.) reports, however, that he observed a large female septem- 

 vittata disgorge a 5-inch catfish. My statement (p. 81) that "Queen snakes 

 disgorged crayfish and small fish when captured," included several instances of 

 these cnistaceans having been eaten, but only one in which a fish was involved. 

 Wood believes these to be the only valid records of fish-eating by this species. 

 Probably other instances have been recorded, but it is clear, both from the 

 studies of Wood and Duellman and from reports published on septemvittatn 

 in other states, that this snake is a negligible predator insofar as fishes are con- 

 cerned and a quite important predator of crayfish. 



Triplehorn (1949) has reported upon an exceptionally large female that 

 was collected along the Auglaize River, at Defiance, on June 18, 1946. This 

 snake measured 922 mm. (36]/^ in.) in length — a new maximum record for 

 the species. It contained 23 embryos, an exceptionally large number. 



Wood (op. cit.) presents data on the number of young or embryos for 

 several additional Ohio queen snakes. These, when added to Triplehorn's 

 report (and to mine, see p. 81), give us records for seven females; the num- 

 ber of their offspring varied from 10 to 23 and averaged 13.4. Mattlin states 

 that some very young specimens in his possession fed upon earthworms. 



Both Wood and Duellman have secured considerable data suggesting that 

 the queen snake m some localilies may aggregate in large numbers prior to 

 hibernation. Wood (1944) reported upon a group taken along the Miami 

 River about five miles upstream from Dayton. Nearly fifty specimens were 

 found basking in the late afternoon sun on October 27, 1940, in denud'd sap- 

 lings growing in a mud bank. Thirty-two were collected; these varied in size 

 and included many large adults, but no young of the year were among them. 

 In commenting further about aggregations of queen snakes, Wood (1949) 

 mentions the finding of 125 specimens in less than one hour alon^ White Oak 

 Creek, 8 miles north of Georgetown, Brown County, on September 22, 1946. 

 Twenty-four of these snakes were beneath a single rock. This larae collection 

 was made by Duellman and two companions. Duellman says that most of the 

 specimens were under rocks that also had water beneath them; a few were 



