114 



versely. A considerable mass of yolk is present, into one side ol' which an 

 embryo snake is sunken. This embryo is 7 inches long; and, although 

 thus immature, has its scales and its colors so perfect that there is no diffi- 

 culty in assigning it to the proper species. The embryo is surrounded by 

 a very thin egg-covering. No indications of the presence of the egg-tooth 

 were seen until a series of sections through the snout were examined, 

 when it appeared. 



Tropidonotus Jdrtlandi is a rather common snake in central Indiana. One 

 specimen (U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 17957) taken at Irvington contains three 

 eggs in each ovary. Each egg is a little less than half an inch in length. 

 Another specimen (U. S, Nat. Mus., No. 17953) from Winchester, Eandolph 

 county, has eight eggs in the ovaries. Each egg is seven -sixteenths of an 

 inch in length. This species is in all probability ovoviviparous. 



The species of Sloreria are stated by Dr. Goode* to be oviparous; but 

 Prof. Copet regards them as ovoviviparous, and he is quite certainly correct 

 in his conclusion. One female of Storeria deJcayi sent me from Winches- 

 ter, Ind., contains thirteen eggs, five of which are in the left ovary, the re- 

 mainder in the right. The eggs have apparently not attained their full 

 ovarian size. Another specimen (U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 17966) of this species, 

 taken by Dr. D, S. Jordan, at Cumberland Gap, Tenn., about midsummer, 

 is a foot long, and has in it eleven eggs, the hindermost three of which are 

 in the left oviduct. Each egg is about three- eighths of an inch in length 

 by one-quarter in short diameter. Another specimen (U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 

 17967), which was taken at Irvington, contains eight eggs in the oviducts, 

 each including a ver)' immature embryo an inch and a half in length. The 

 eggs are about half an inch long. The membranes are extremely thin. 



I find a few notes on the breeding habits of Ileterodon platirldnos, the hog- 

 nosed snake, viper, or spreading adder, as it is popularly known. Some of 

 these contain statements which, to me, appear exaggerated. Dr. J. Schneck, 

 of Mount Carmel, 111., reports! that eighty-seven "young spotted spreading 

 adders" were taken from the body of a wounded female. The author of 

 the note did not see this done, but got his information from persons who 

 did see it. I am strongly inclined to believe that the reptile was a Tropido- 

 notus sipedon. Another writer {; in Pennsylvania gives an account of over 

 one hundred young snakes issuing from a wound in the side of a female 



-Proc. A. A A. S., 1873, p. 184. 

 tProe. Phila. Acad. Sci., 1S74, p. 110. 

 tAmer. Nat., Vol. XVI, pi 1008. 

 iiAiner. Nat., Vol. Ill, p. 555. » 



