Cincinnati Society of Xatural History. 



NOTES ON THE BATRACHIANS AND REPTILES OF 

 VIGO COUNTY, INDIANA. 



Bv W. S. Blatchley. 



(Read b}- Title February 3, 1891.) 



For the past three years the writer has given especial atten- 

 tion to the Batrachians and Reptiles found in the vicinity of 

 Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana. In that time forty-six 

 species and six sub-species of these interesting vertebrates 

 have been observed in the locality mentioned, and many notes 

 have been taken relating to their habits, the causes of their 

 local distribution, etc 



Believing that a list of those seen, together with some of 

 the notes, would prove acceptable to persons interested in the 

 study of herpetology, the present paper has been prepared. 



Vigo County lies on the western border, and almost midway 

 between the northern and southern boundaries of the State. 

 The Wabash River flows through its north-western part, and 

 in many places its bottoms, which are usually overflowed each 

 season, are one to two miles in width. 



In these bottoms are a number of large ponds, some of 

 them covering an area of forty to sixty acres, which are the 

 favorite resorts of many of the batrachians and not a few of 

 the reptiles mentioned below. The city of Terre Haute is on 

 the eastern bank of the river, on the edge of a prairie about 

 two miles in width, beyond which a low range of hills forms 

 the western border of a tableland which extends to the east- 

 ern limit of tlic count)-. At tlic point where the tableland 

 meets the prairie the soil is a loose, black loam, containing a 

 great deal of sand. Here, in a woodland pasture of a1)out 

 forty acres, rather thickh' grown u]i with iinderbrush, and 

 having near its center several shallow ponds, about the mar- 

 gins of which are numerous logs, liave been collected no less 

 than tliirty-two of the forty-five species A)uiid in the counl\-. 

 Of course, many of tlicsc have l)een taken elsewhere, but tlic 

 sandy soil and other conditions of this woods seems to suit 



