THE REPTILES OF OHIO ?53 



A common garter snake was found in die stomach of a red-shouldered 

 hawk that was shot in Montgomery County. 



Wood advises me that J. M. Miller found a "hibernating ball" of garter 

 snakes in a hole two feet in depth in the levee along the old channel at Day- 

 ton. The date was January 8. 1944. Of the seventeen snakes entwined 

 together, twelve were males and five were females. An aggregation of sixteen 

 specimens (thirteen females and three males) was discovered in the founda- 

 tion of an abandoned house in an uncultivated field in Dayton on April 27, 

 1940. The snakes were found by H. J. Walter and J. H. Martin "in a ball 

 7 inches in diameter Ln a depression in loose earth beneath one of th: steps of 

 a rotten staircase." 



Agkistrodon contortrix mokeson (Daudin) 



Northern Copperhead 



(Page 107; maps 26 and 64; plate 14, fig. 1) 



The copperhead has been the subject of much study and considerable 

 nomenclatorial juggling during the past several years. Four subspecies are 

 now recognized; the range of two of these is indicated by the solid dark por- 

 tion of the inset map on page 109. A southern race, characterized by its pale 

 coloration and the narrowness of its dark cros-sbands, occurs from southeastern 

 Virginia southwestward through the coastal plain and piedmont of the Caro- 

 linas and Georgia into extreme northern Florida; from there it ranges west to 

 eastern Texas and north through the Mississippi Embayment to southern Illi- 

 nois. The northern copperhead occurs in the remainder of the dark section of 

 the map, but its range should be extended som.ewhat to the northwest to in- 

 clude new records from extreme southeastern Iowa and extreme southeastern 

 Nebraska. 



The name mokasen of Beauvois, used in the first edition of the Reptiles of 

 Ohio, has been shown by Gloyd and Conant (1943, 149) to be unidentifiable; 

 mokeson, of Dau.din, as the next oldest name, is applicable to the northern 

 copperhead. The use of contortrix for the species as a whole is based upon 

 the argum.ents of Klauber (1948, 7) who believes that the Linnaean Boa con- 

 tortrix is applicable to the copperhead and not to the hog-nosed snake, as was 

 maintained by Stejneger and Barbour throughout the five editions of their 

 Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. Since the specimen 

 described by Linnaeus was from "Carolina," the southern copperhead should 

 be known as Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix. 



New Ohio records are: 



Adams County: Near Stouts (WED 207). Athens County: 6 mi. SW of 

 Athens (OUVC 852); Buffalo Beat, near Buchtel (OUVC 382). Fairfield Coun- 

 ty: Berne Twp. (OSM 487); Sugar Grove (OSM 712.1-9). HAMILTON CoUNTY: 

 Riverside, Cincinnati (CSNH 2655). HoCKiNG CoUNTY : Clear Creek (OSM 774). 

 Jefferson CouNTi': 1 mi. S of Bergholz (FWB— 2 specs.). Pike County: Old 

 Baldy (DPLM 380.44); 1 mi. NE of Pike Lake (DPLM 104-5.42); Pike State 

 Forest (DPLM 98.42, 100.42, 103.42, 208-18.43, 99.44; WED 149-51, 154); Wild- 

 cat Holler (DPLM 622.44, 654.44). Ross County: Harrison Twp. (OSM 715.1- 

 3); 1 mi. W of Vigo (OSM 486). Scioto County: Near Haverhill (AMNH 



