REPTILES 



215 



H. coutortrix (L.) {H. platyrhinus 'LsitreiWe) (Fig. 117). Puffing or 

 spreading adder; blowing viper. Length 700 mm.; color brown or 

 reddish, with about 28 dark or black dorsal patches between the head 

 and tail, and a series of similar patches on each side alternating irregu- 



FiG. 117. — Heterodon contortrix (from Cope). 



larly with them; on the tail the blotches tend to form rings around 

 the body; belly yellowish, blotched on the edges with black; a melanistic 

 variety occurs which is plain black: eastern States, south of New Hamp- 

 shire and Minnesota; westward to the Great Plains; 

 common, especially in dry, sandy places. 



H. nasicus Baird & Girard. Length 660 mm.; tail 

 70 mm.; color gray or light brown, with a dorsal and 

 2 lateral series on each side of small darker spots, which 

 on the tail tend to form rings; center of abdomen black: 

 western States from Dakota and Montana into Mexico; 

 common in Texas and the south. 



H. simiis (L.) (Fig. 118). Length 470 mm.; tail 

 80 mm.; color gray or brownish with about 35 dark 

 brown dorsal patches alternating with smaller ones on 

 each side; belly yellowish: southeastern States, from South Carolina 

 to the Mississippi, and northward in its valley into Indiana; less com- 

 mon than H. contortrix. 



Fig. ir8. 



Heterodon simus 



{from Cope). 



