112 



fourths inch long and containing an embryo 2-2 inches in length. An- 

 other, taken July 31, contained but four eggs, and these are ready to be 

 burst by the young. The eggs containing the coiled embryos were then 

 an inch and a quarter long, while the extended young had a length of 5^] 

 inches. Dr. Goode has quoted * a note from Herman. Strecker, of Rf ad- 

 ing. Pa., who states that some years previously he had found and caged a 

 female of this species which soon produced thirty or more young ones. 

 He supposed that the little snakes had been hidden in the mother's stom- 

 ach. There is possibly some confusion here with E. sirtalis, judging merely 

 from the number of the young. Prof. S. I. Smith, of the Sheffield Scien- 

 tific School, is quoted! by Dr. Goode as having se«-n two young snakes, 

 each 3 or 4 inches long, run down the mother's throat. The statement is 

 no doubt incorrect, so far as regards the size of the young. 



In a female (U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 179G5) of the variety faircyi, taken 

 probably in Mis?>is8ippi, I find nine eggs, the hindermoet three of which 

 are in the left oviduct. The eggs are about three quarters of an inch long 

 and a third of an inch in the short diameter. The development of the 

 embryo had just begun. In a female (U, S. Nat. Mus., No. 17952) of 

 faircyi, 28 inches long, taken at Vt- edersburg, Ind., are twelve ovarian eggs 

 of the same size as those just mentioned. The hinder four are in the hft 

 ovary. At what time of the year the two specimens last described were 

 killed, I do not know. In a specimen of faireyi, 40 inches long (U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., No. 17958), captured at Vicksburg, Miss., about the 4th of July, 

 there are twenty young snakes, each close to 9 inches in length. The 

 hindermost nine of these are in the left oviduct. All were evidently ready 

 to be expelled. They did not appear to be contained in any egg-covering, 

 and the egg tooth was not found in any of the three which were examined. 

 Not only is this date not so early as that given by Dr. Abbott for the 

 finding of the eggs of this species in New Jersey, we must take into account 

 the difference in the climate, and especially the difference in the size of the 

 young snakes. 



The species of the related genus Tmpidonntus are also ovoviviparous. 

 T. s^pedon, our water-snake, is the commonest species of the genus in the 

 eastern United States, It is extiem^-ly variable and reaches a large size. 

 Prof. Putnam has a note reg<rding the bretding habits of this species. + 

 He stat«^s that twenty two of the young belonging to one family were 



*Proc. A. A. A. S., 1873, p. 18. 

 fProc. A. A. A. S., 1873, p. — . 

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



