766 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



note did not see this done, hut got his information from persons who did see it. I 

 am strongly inclined to believe that the reptile was a Tropidonotns sipedoti. Another 

 writer' in Pennsylvania gives an account of over one hundred young snakes issuing 

 from a wound in tho side of a female spreading adder. These young were each from 

 6 to 8 inches in length and all were active and blowing vigorously. Neither did the 

 author of this note soe the escape of the snakes, although he did see sixty-three of 

 the young in alcohol. There may easily have been an error in the determination of 

 the species to which these young snakes belonged. One who has examined the eggs 

 of this species can not easily believe that so many young snakes could, with such 

 readiness, escape from a wound in the mother's side. Moreover, these snakes deposit 

 their eggs in the earth some time before the young are ready to lead an independent 

 existence. 



Dr. Bumpus - states that a female Heterodon in the National Museum brought forth 

 111 young, but Dr. Bumpus informs me that he did not himself observe this. 



Prof. F. W. Cragin reports'' the finding, on September 10, of 22 eggs of this 

 species ; they were buried in the sand at East Hampton, Long Island. Two of the 

 eggs which he had in his possession hatched four days afterwards. Troost appears 

 to have dissected a black specimen, in which he found 25 eggs. Dr. C. C. Abbott 

 says^ that he has frequently in May found the eggs of the hog-nosed snake in con- 

 siderable numbers a few inches below the surface of the ground, and in early July 

 he onco found a family of 17 very small and apparently just hatched young. These 

 resented all interference, snapped, hissed, and flattened their heads precisely as an 

 older snake would do. The size of the young is not given, but on another page (p. 

 295) he implies that they were less than 4 inches in length. I think that this spe- 

 cies, like most other species, produce their young rather late in the season, but I see 

 no reason for not believing that some individuals may bear their eggs over the 

 winter and lay them in the spring. 



A female (Cat.No. 17951, U.S.N.M. ), sent me from Veedersburg, Fountain County, 

 Indiana, contained 15 eggs, the posterior 4 of which lay in the left oviduct. I could 

 discover no signs of embryos. Each egg was covered by a thick, tough, yellowish 

 coat, inside of which was a thinner and more delicate membrane. 



Through the kindness of Dr. L. Stejneger, curator of the department of reptiles in 

 the National Museum, I have been enabled to make some observations on the eggs 

 and living young of this Heterodon. On the 31st day of last August there were 

 brought into the laboratory of the department from some point in Maryland not far 

 from Washington a lot of 27 eggs, which the finder said were the eggs of the copper- 

 head. It was reported that the eggs were thrown up out of the ground by the plow, 

 and that the mother snake was near by and had resented the disturbing of her 

 treasures. She had been killed, but had not been sent along with the eggs. Since 

 it was supposed that the copperhead produces living young, the occupants of the 

 laboratory were anxious to learn if this opinion were erroneous. Accordingly one 

 of the eggs was opened, and in it was found a young hog-nosed snake, fully devel- 

 oped and ready to assist himself on the scene of action. This Heterodon (i[uitc closely 

 sesembles the copperhead, and most people are not accustomed to make nice dis- 

 tinctions among snakes. This close resemblance may account for some of the 

 statements of the large number of young jirodnced by the copperheads. ' 



The eggs referred to were between 1^ and 1| inches long and about seven-eighths 

 inch in short diameter. The egg covering was thick, tough, and flexible, resembling 

 a piece of parchment. There is little if any deposit of lime in it. Of these eggs, 

 some were found to have hatched during the night of September 6; others, which 

 were buried somewhat deeper in some clay, escaped from the eggs later, but all were 

 out by the afternoon of the 8th. The length of such as were measured varied 



' Amer. Nat., Ill, 1869, p. 555. 2 Riverside Natural Hist., Ill, p. 364. 



sAmer. Nat., XIII, 1879, p. 710. •'A Naturalist's Rambles- about Home, p. 289. 



s Amer. Nat., XVII, 1883, p. 1235. 



