108 



the time of the pairing of the sexes, I have knowledge of only one observa- 

 tion. My friend, Rev. A. M. Hall, brought me from Western Pennsylva- 

 nia two specimens of this species, which he took while pairing, on the 28th 

 of August. Unfortunately, the female was disposed of before my investi- 

 gation of this subject was begiin. This observation and those of Dr. Allen, 

 when considered together, seem to indicate u period of gestation of nearly 

 a year. 



The breeding habits of the water moccasin, Agkistrodon piscivorus, are no 

 doubt much like those of the copperhead. A female 2G inches long (U. S. 

 Nat. Mus,, No. 17968), which was taken on the Arkansas baak of the Mis- 

 sissippi river, just opposite Memphis, in the latter days of June, contains 

 seven eggs, four of which are in the left oviduct. I'sually the larger num- 

 ber of eggs in snakes is found in the right oviduct. The eggs of this speci- 

 men are about the size of the yolk of a hen's egg. In each is an embryo 

 not larger than a common pea. 



The breeding habits of Crotalus do not appear to be well known. Prof. 

 Putnam* dissected a female which he says contained in the oviducts 

 eight fully formed eggs, besides a number of smaller ones, which he sup- 

 posed belonged to a later brood. It is more probable that all the eggs were 

 really in the ovaries. A female rattlesnake, 39 inches long {V. S. Nat. 

 Mus., No. 17959), was brought to me from Western Pennsylvania by Mr. 

 Hall. In this I find nine eggs, four of which are in the left oviduct. The 

 eggs will average nearly an inch and a half in long, and an inch in short, 

 diameter. In one of them I find an embryo about 3 inches long. The egg- 

 coverings are extremely thin. The mother snake was captured some time 

 in August, probably before the 15th. At what time of year the sexes unite 

 I find nothing on i-ecord. Prof. S. W. Williston, who has had abundant 

 opportunities for making observations on C. confluentus, states t that the 

 sexes pair in May. Nor do I know how large the young are at the time of 

 their birth. M. Palisot Beauvois, as quoted by Dr. Goode,; says that he 

 saw five young run into the mouth of a mother snake, and that these 

 young were about the size of a goose (luill. The young are undoubtedly 

 much larger than this statement makes them. There is apparently as 

 strong a tendency in observers to minify the size of the young of snakes as 

 there is to magnify the size of the adults. 



■•■■'Amer. Nat., Vol. II, p. loo. 

 t Amer. Nat., Vol. XII, p. 207. 

 1 Proc. A. A. A. S., 1873, p. 183. 



