76 



THE. GUIDE TO NATURE 



state of complete rest, — that is, for a suffi- 

 cient length of time for me to make a 

 successful exposure. The result I ob- 

 tained is here shown in Figure i, where 

 the branchiae or gills, and the feeble fore- 

 limb with its two toes, show very well 

 indeed. The eves, situated forwards, are 



ing- Chief of Exhibits in that museum. 

 Air. Benedict generously presented me 

 with this specimen for the present pur- 

 pose, and I photographed it from life. 

 Beyond the photograph here reproduced 

 in Figure i. I do not remember ever 

 having seen Auipluiima means figwred be- 





FKiURE 



EASTERN RING-NECKED SNAKE. 



very small, circular, and without lids ; 

 while the body is nearly cylindrical, and 

 the caudal portion is flattened trans- 

 versely, the creature being a rapid and 

 splendid swimmer. At this age the entire 

 body, including the head, is of a rich 

 snufT brown, rather lighter on the under 

 parts. Its bite is perfectly harmless ; and 

 so far as my observation goes, it had none 

 of the interesting habits that I fully de- 

 scribed in Science for its three-toed 

 cousin. At no time did any of them make 

 an attempt to escape from the different 

 receptacles in which they were tempora- 

 rilv confined. 



That Amphimna means is not a snake 

 will at once be appreciated by comparing 

 it with the pretty little Eastern Ring- 

 necked Snake (Diadophis punctatiis) , 

 here shown in Fig-ure 2. This beautiful 

 and very gentle little reptile was taken 

 in Maryland by Mr. Tames E. Benedict. 

 Jr.. who is the son of the veteran natur- 

 alist of that name connected with the 

 Smithsonian Institution, and at this wr't- 



fore from a photograph of the living 

 specimen ; I do not envy anyone the task 

 of duplicating it. 



These specimens were not over a foot 

 long, whereas adults sometimes attain a 

 length of more than a vard. They possess 

 lungs as well as gills, and they can there- 

 fore breathe both in and out of the water. 

 Some of their structural characters are 

 known, but a good accoimt of their entire 

 anatomy still remains to be written. 

 Among the Bafradiia they are nearest re- 

 lated to the Salamanders. 



Omitted Credit for a Photograph. 



To the courtesy of Dr. R. W. Shu- 

 feldt of Washington, D. C, we ow^e the 

 use of the photograph of the white 

 woodchuck in the July number of 

 TiTE Guide to Nature. It had pre- 

 viousl}' been used by us with full credit 

 to Dr. Shufeldt, but our repeated 

 tb'^nks and acknowledgement were ac- 

 cidentallv omitted from the fulv issue. 



