THE REPTILES OF OHIO 241 



eria dekayi may have entered the area from the north, crossing the glacial 

 boundary but finding habitat conditions not greatly different from those pre- 

 vailing in glaciated territory. All three species, the two snakes and the turtle, 

 are known from many loralities in northeastern Ohio but from very few in the 

 unglaciatcd region. Buchanan also has seen several DeKay's snakes from the 

 extreme eastern part of Loudon Township and there is a specimen m his col- 

 lection from Lee Township. These localities lie east of the Flushing Escarp- 

 m.ent. Storerm dekctyi m.ay have crossed this physiographic boundary', but it 

 also is possible that it entered the region of Amsterdam from the northeast by 

 way of the filled valley of the Ohio, thence westward up the valley of Yellow 

 Creek. Opheodrys v. vernalif may or may not have followed the s^me route. 

 Scioto County: Jolmson found ?. specimen (OSM 910) at Portsmouth 

 on January 13, 1950, "as it was crawling from beneath a board at the upper 

 limit of debris deposited by high water on the flood wall on the west side of 

 town." This locality is in a filled preglacial valley. The same collector also 

 obtained a specimen of dekayi on the Roosevelt Game Preserve brneath a 

 stone at roadside. The Ohio State Museum has one of these snakes from the 

 Shawnee Forest (OSM 506). 



Vinton County: Gier and Mittleman collected a specimen (OUVC 

 1835) under a small log in "a marshy hollow" between Zaleski and Lake 

 Hope. The snake previously reported from Jimtown (p. 89) was taken in 

 a small marsh. Both habitats in this county are similar to those that are found 

 in poorly-drained portions of filled valleys that lie fairly close to the glacial 

 boundary. 



We cannot be sure that Storena dekayi. Natrix k'^tlandii. Tha7niwt)his 

 sanritus, Clemmys guttata, and Eumeces jasaatus (and perhaps also Opheo- 

 drys vernalis) have used filled valleys as a means of expanding their ranges 

 into unglaciated Ohio, but there are indications that they may have done so. 

 At least they have found suitable habitats in the relatively m.oist portions of 

 such valleys, and they appear to be rare or absent in the surroundins: hills. 

 One can but wish that a great deal more material were available and that 

 extremely detailed habitat notes were at hand for every individual specimen. 



Storeria occip'ttomaciilata occipitomaculata (Storer) 

 Red-Bellied Snake 



(Page 92; maps 21 and 58; plate 12. fig. 2) 



Trapido (1944) has described a new subspecies of this snake — Storeria 

 occipitomaculata obsciira, from northern Florida and the coastal plain of 

 Georgia. In this form the three light occipital spots are coalesced into a ring 

 crossing the neck, the top and sides of the head are chiefly black, and the 

 ventral and subcaudal counts average somewhat different than in the typical 

 form. The general range map (page 93) should be amended to allow for 

 obscura in the Southeast; the western limit for occipitomaculata has not been 

 adequately defined and some revision in this direction may eventually be 

 necessary. Trapido's map (op. cit.. p. 20) leaves much to be desired. New 

 Ohio records are: 



