arousing his ardor by rubbing the sensitive areas on his chin. Some- 

 times many males court one female until one is successful in coup- 

 ling with her. The twelve or so young are born late in the summer. 



Food. This species feeds on insects, salamanders, tadpoles, frogs, 

 toads and fish. Unlike most of its immediate relatives, it seems to 

 dislike earthworms. 



The Ribbon Snake is of a convenient si/.e to keep in an aquarium. 

 It is more attractive and not so voracious as the Water Snake. Like 

 the latter, it will eat small fishes readily and when tame can be 

 taught to eat bits of large fish. Thus it is an easy snake to keep in 

 condition. 



A basking place, preferably quite dry, should be provided. Every 

 effort should be made to keep the water clean to avoid infecting 

 the snake with mouth-rot and similar snake ailments. 



Butler's Garter Snake (Tbamnop/jis btitlerl) 



Appearance. This snake is thick, short-bodied, and clumsy. It 

 tapers forward to a thin neck and narrow head. The tail is usually 

 less than a quarter of the length of the body. There are three dis- 

 tinct yellow stripes down the back, varying in color from lemon 

 to greenish yellow. The ground color is chocolate, black, or dark 

 olive. Beneath the lateral stripe there is a band of the ground color. 

 Along the back, between and partly overlapping the stripes, there 

 may be two rows of black spots on the skin. Often these join irreg- 

 ularly or blend in dark specimens and consequently disappear. The 

 belly is greenish white, with black spots along either edge of some 

 of the plates. 



The tail is less than a fourth of the body length. 



Size. The adult length does not usually exceed 450 mm. 



Habitat. This garter snake always lives in swampy places or at 

 the edge of some stream or pond. It is quite shy and commonly 

 hides under boards and logs when not hunting. In comparison with 

 the Ribbon Snake it appears very clumsy in the water, for it tries 

 to progress by stretching movements. It is even more awkward on 

 land. This unfortunate species is so clumsy that it is forced to 



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