154 BULLETIN 17 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Cooper (1860, p. 300) gives the following note: "This large snake. . . 

 is . . . quite harmless, and must destroy a great many mice, gophers, 

 and other vermin. ... It is . . . mostly confined to the open 

 country." 



The following note is given by Lord (1866, vol. 2, p. 307): "In the 

 spring it keeps on the grassy prairie land, but in the hot weather 

 retires to the shores of lakes and ponds, or the margins of streams, and 

 spends much of its time in the water." 



Van Denburgh gives several notes on this form. In an early paper 

 (1897, p. 198) he says: "Its food so far as known, consists of smaU 

 mammals, of which gophers are said to form a large part." A de- 

 scription is given elsewhere (1898, p. 139) of 19 eggs laid by a female in 

 captivity on July 14 and 15. In a later paper (1922, p. 712), the 

 following notes on feeding habits are given: "Young birds also are 

 sometimes eaten. On one occasion a half-grown snake of this kind 

 was found in an aviary where domestic canaries were breeding. . . . 

 When I opened it I found three nearly fledged young canaries," 



Ditmars (1907, p. 321) says of catenifer: "This snake is of a less 

 vicious disposition than the other species. When greatly disturbed it 

 hisses loudly and vibrates the tail." 



Grinnell (1907, p. 46) stresses the value of this form to farmers in 

 destroying pocket gophers and squirrels, and advocates protecting 

 and encouraging it. Of its hibernation, he says: "The gopher snake 

 liides away during the \vinter months in rock-piles, and possibly in 

 holes in the ground." The same author (1908, p. 165) describes the 

 death of an individual from "sunstroke due to violent exercise in the 

 hot sun" where it was kept in an attempt to photograph it. The 

 specimen was found at 6,200 feet elevation. Another was seen at 

 "about 4,300 feet altitude" in Mountain Home Canyon "climbing 

 among the lower branches of a scrubby golden oak a yard or more 

 above the ground." 



Storer (1916, p. 75) gives a detailed account of the molting process 

 in the albino specimen mentioned above. 



Grinnell and Camp (1917, p. 193) give the range of catenifer in 

 California as "the whole length of the state west of the desert divides, 

 but chiefly east of the coast redwood belt. . . . Occupies Lower and 

 Upper Sonoran and Transition life-zones. Shows no particular re- 

 strictions as regarding habitat, though certainly not aquatic." 



Fisher (1924, p. 108) gives an account of the breeding of catenifer 

 in captivity which may be briefly quoted as follows: 



Copulation was first noted on the night of April 21. In the morning of April 22 

 it was again observed. ... It was noted to continue between 9:30 A. M. and 

 12:05 P. M. . . . On April 28 another female gopher snake was put in the cage, 

 and the following day copulation with the original male took place. . . . The 

 first female and male were brought to Berkeley June 21 and put in a large cage. 



