246 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



Liberty (OSM 673). Lucas County: Buckeye Marsh, Toledo (WED 345). Mar- 

 ion County: (OSM 704); Sec. 7, Marion Twp. (OSM 627). Ottawa County: 

 Near Port Clinton (OSM 672.1-3). CoUNTY NOT Stated: Buckeye Lake (OUVC 

 1853, 2245 A-C). 



The specimen from the Buckeye Marsh, Lucas County (WED 345), 

 exhibits two abnormaUties that should be recorded. There are only 5 upper 

 labials and the maximum number of scale rows is 2L The last two supra- 

 labials are fused to form one large scale on each side of the head. There are 

 19 dorsal scales in the neck region, but, som.ewhat farther back on the body, 

 counts of 21 may be made for a short distance. In other respects the specimen 

 is a typical butleri. It is a female, 470 mm. in length, and it contains several 

 well-developed embryos. 



An unusually large specimen is worth mentioning even though it is from 

 outside the borders of the state. A female butleri was collected early in 1942 

 at Detroit, Michigan, by Wilbur Auffenberg and later sent to the Philadelphia 

 Zoo; it measured 27^/4 inches (694 mm.) which, I believe, is the maximum 

 known length for the species. 



Thatnnophis radix radix (Baird and Girard) 

 Prairie Garter Snake 



(Map 61; plate 27, fig. 1) 



We have learned only recently that this snake is a part of the Ohio fauna. 

 A detailed account concerning it has been published, however (Conant, 

 Thomas, and Rausch, 1945), and much of the information below, including 

 all the passages in quotation marks, has been abstracted from that paper. 

 Since there was no discussion concerning rcidix in the original edit'on of this 

 report, and so that this garter snake may be accorded equal treatment with the 

 other reptiles indigenous to the state, the review that follows is in considerable 

 detail. Fourteen Ohio specimens of radix have been found, all from Marion 

 and Wyandot counties. Nine of these (3 males and 6 females) are preserved, 

 and scale counts and measurements for them have already been tabulated (op. 

 cit., 62). All statistical data below are based upon these same nine specimens. 



Description. — A medium-sized snake that occasionally may exceed a yard 

 in length. The largest preserved one (a female in which part of the tail is 

 missing) measures almost 30 inches, but Rausch obtained another in Marion 

 Coimty that he estimated at nearly a meter (39% inches). As is the case 

 among other members of the genus Thamnophs, females attain greater dimen- 

 sions, both in length and girth, than males. The largest Ohio male is 2OI/3 

 inches long. No juveniles are available for study. 



Head medium in size but clearly distinct from the neck; eye medium. 

 Head plates normal. Two nasals; the nostril lateral and between them. One 

 loreal. Body slender in young specimens, but becoming somewhat robust in 

 large females. Tail medium slender and tapering to a point. Among three 

 males the tail is 23.7%, 24.4%, and 25.2% of the total length; among three 

 females the figures are 21.2%, 21.6%, and 22.0%. 



Dorsal scale rows 19-21-19-17 or 21-19-17; the scales keeled. Upper labials 



