916 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 

 Ophibolua getulus getulus Linnceiis — Continued. 



Catalogue 

 No. 



16698 

 17291 



17443 

 20692 

 21164 

 21360 



!2;iG7-8 



22466 



Number 



of speci- 



mena. 



Locality. 



Norbeck, Montgomery 



County, Maryland. 



Fernandina, Florida 



Washington, District of 



Columbia. 

 Dunn Loring, Virginia . . . 



Laurel, Maryland 



Chancellors ville, Virginia. 

 South Island, Georgetown 



County, South Carolina. 

 Orange Hammock, De 



Soto County, Florida. 

 Mount Vernon, Virginia. . 



When 

 collected. 



From whom received. 



Charles Abert. 



C. F. iJatchelder. 

 C.W. Richmond . 



J.D. Figgins 



F. H. Knowlton ... 

 Dr. Earl B. Silvers. 

 E. P.Alexander ... 



Wm. Palmer . . , 

 I. H. Kuohling 



Nature of 

 specimen. 



Alcoholic. 



do. 

 do. 



do. 

 do. 

 do. 

 do. 



do. 



do. 



In his pamphlet on the Serpents of New York (Albany, 1854), Pro- 

 fessor Baird remarks that this species is quite maritime in its northern 

 distribution, being rarely found in the Northern States excepting near 

 the coast. It is occasionally seen in Long Island, New York, accordiug 

 to DeKay, aud more frequently in eastern New Jersey. It is not cited 

 by Dr. J. A, Allen in his Catalogue of the Keptiles and Batrachiaus 

 found in the vicinity of Springfield, Massachusetts,' nor is it included 

 in the list of species found in the State which is included in the paper. 

 In its western distribution it is not known from west of the Mississippi 

 River. 



This form is said to be an enemy aud devourer of other snakes, espe- 

 cially of the venomous Crotalidas. I have not personally met with a 

 case of it. It is entirely inoffensive to man, making no hostile demon- 

 strations. My daughter, when a girl of six or eight years, had several 

 individuals as pets. They drank milk readily from a cuj) which she 

 held in her hand. 



Prof. O. P. Hay^ says: 



It is extremely active and strong. Holbrook says of it that it is found abundantly 

 in moist and shady places, although it never takes to -water or trees. It feeds on 

 moles, small birds, or such reptiles as lizards, salamanders, toads, and the like, that 

 fall in its way. He further says that it is commonly believed that it is the great 

 enemy of the rattlesnake, but there is no great evidence of this. He, however, tells 

 of one that had as a fellow-prisoner a Crofalophorns niilarius, or Southern ground 

 rattle.snake, and swallowed him. I found that in Mississippi this snake had the 

 rei)utation of destroying rattlesnakes, and it received protection on this account. 

 Dr. Elliott Cones * says that the black snake (Zamenis constrictor) and Ophibolus 

 getulus sayi wage a constant warfare against rattlesnakes and moccasins. They are 

 said to be uniformly victorious and to eat their victims. It is on account of their 

 prowess in thus destroying poisonous serpents that they have received the name 

 of king snake. Mr. J. T. Humphreys, Burke County, North Carolina, gives' an 

 interesting account of a conflict in a cage between a king snake, sai/i, aud a water 

 moccasin. The former was 42 inches long, the latter 34, but with a considerably 



• Proc. Bost. 8oc. Nat. Hist., XII, December, 1868. 



2 Batrachiaus and Reptiles of Indiana, In<liaiiapolis, 1893, p. 110. 



«Bull. U. S. Geol. Geog. Surv., IV, 1878, p. 269. 



^American Naturalist, XV, p. 561. 



