HABITS OF THE GARTER SNAKE. 



487 



esteem small snakes a particular delicacy. After such a dinner as 

 the above, the snake seeks some safe retreat and there lapses into a 

 more or less quiescent state for about a week, at the end of which 

 time it is ready to add another victim to its list. Frogs are not, 

 however, the only food of the garter snakes ; they will also feed 

 upon newts or toads, they are very partial to earthworms, and in 

 rare instances will resort to cannibalism. They never feed upon 

 insects, and as far as my observation goes will not attack birds 

 or mice. There is a great difference between the arrangement of 

 the teeth in harmless and venomous snakes. The harmless garter 

 snake, for example, possesses four rows of little needlelike teeth 

 upon its upper jaw. All these teeth are of about the same size, 

 and are pointed backward. A bite from such a snake would 

 leave an impression similar to that shown in A, Fig. 3, where the 

 dots represent the perforations made by the teeth. Venomous 

 snakes, on the other hand, possess much fewer teeth, and in the 

 outer rows we find several large fangs. An impression from a 

 snake of this sort is shown in Fig. 3, B. Several times during 

 the summer the garter snake molts. Almost a week before this 

 takes place, the horny layer of the old epidermis begins to sepa- 

 rate from the underlying skin. This separation is caused by 

 numerous little hairlike structures, called lifting hairs, which 

 develop uniformly all over the underlying epidermis and push 

 the old skin away from it, so that it hangs loosely all over the 

 body. The snake becomes torpid and irritable. The eyes lose 

 their luster and become milky in appearance, for the cuticula over 

 the eyes is shed also. Finally, the skin 

 breaks around the lips and the serpent 

 proceeds to cast it off, which it usually 

 accomplishes in about an hour by 

 writhing slowly through the grass, so 

 that the whole skin is turned inside 

 out, and pulled off backward like the 

 finger of a glove. 



The mating season of the garter 

 snake comes about the middle of April, 

 very soon after it awakens from the 

 winter's hibernation. The males pos- 

 sess the mysterious power of tracking the females through the 

 grass, and will follow after all the sinuosities of their paths with 

 the greatest certainty. At this season both sexes emit a very rank 

 and disgusting odor, especially when irritated. 



During the months of June and July the females may be 

 observed basking themselves in the hottest sun. They are very 

 easily angered at this time, and generally make a bold front, 

 snapping viciously at the intruder. They refuse to eat in cap- 



Fig. 3. — Forms of Snake-bitks. 



