109 



I have been enabled to make some observations on Sktrunis catenatus 

 Raf. {Crotnlus tergeminus Say.)- In the American Naturalist for IMarch, 

 1887, pp. 211-218, I published some notes on the breeding habits and young 

 of this species. About September 1, two females, which had been kept in 

 confinement, brought forth young, one six, the other seven. The young 

 were not seen by myself at the time of birth, but on the 1st of January 

 they were at least 10 inches long. From a female sent me from Paris, 

 111., I have taken an almost fully developed embryo (U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 

 17947). It measures 7^ inches in length, and this is probably nearly the 

 length which it would have been when born. A considerable amount of 

 the yolk was still spread over and among the coils of the little snake ; but, 

 when its body was opened, a large mass of the yolk was seen to have been 

 received within its walls. This would be sufficient to maintain life and 

 growth until the little reptile could provide for its own necessities. The 

 fang is developed, and the egg-tooth is present, although it does not seem 

 to be directed so much forward as in other species. In the oviduct, lying 

 alongside of the embryo just described, was another egg which contained 

 an embryo only about 4 inches in length. It was so deeply immersed in 

 the yolk that its presence was not suspected until the yolk was cut par- 

 tially away. Nevertheless this immature little snake exhibits quite dis- 

 tinctly the pattern of coloration found in the adults. In contact with this 

 egg was another in which no indications of an embryo were to be found. 

 The more immature young were probably lying farther forward in the ani- 

 mal, but of this I am not now certain. Should all these eggs be expelled 

 from the mother's b jdy at the same time, it would seem that the least de- 

 veloped young muet perish. A female (U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 17950) of this 

 specit-s taken in Hamilton county, Ind., contained eight eggs, and these 

 had not yet left the ovaries. Three of the eggs were in the left ovary. The 

 eggs were an inch long by half an inch in the short diameter. Prof. Put- 

 nam mentions* a specimen of Sistrurus millarius which contained fourteen 

 eggs. This appears to be a larger number than is usually found in the 

 Cro'alidse. 



The species of the genus Eutninia are probably all ovoviviparous. Dr. 

 Goode, as already cited, says that there is some reason to believe that some 

 of them are in some instani^es oviparous, in others ovoviviparous. Dr. C. 

 C. Abbott t says that the eggs of the garter-snake, E. sirtalis, and of the rib- 



*Amer. Nat., Vol. II, p. 134. 

 t Rambles, ifcc, p. 295. 



