REPTILES 205 



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 : Massachusetts to Montana, Florida 

 and Texas; 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 yellow- 

 ish: southeastern States, from North Carolina to the 

 Mississippi, and northward in its valley into Indiana; 

 less common than H. contortrix . 



6. Liopeltis Fitzinger. Small, green snakes with 

 smooth scales in 15 rows; upper labials 7; ventrals 135: 

 several species in eastern Asia, i in America. 



L. vernalis (Harlan). Green snake; grass snake. pj^ „§ 



Length 400 mm.; tail 1^0 mm.; color uniform green, Heurodon simus 



,. , " 10 {from Cope). 



lighter underneath: eastern, western and central States; 



westward to New Mexico; common towards the north; terrestrial, 



living in the grass and in shrubbery, and feeding on insects. 



7. Opheodrys Fitzinger (Cyc/o^AJ^ Gunther). Small, green snakes 

 with keeled scales in 17 rows; upper labials 7; ventrals 155: several 

 species in Asia, i in America. 



0. (Bstivus (L) Green snake. Length 840 mm.; tail 320 mm.; color 

 uniform green; belly yellow: southern New Jersey to the Gulf; westward 

 to New Mexico and northward in the Mississippi Valley to Illinois and 

 Kansas; common; arboreal, feeding on insects. 



8. Salvadora Baird and Girard. Slender ground snakes with a snout 

 surmounted by a triangular rostral shield, giving it a truncated appear- 

 ance in front; scales smooth and in 17 rows; upper labials 8: 2 species in 

 Mexico, I in the United States. 



S. grahami(B B. and G. Patch-nose snake. Length 700 mm.; tail 

 100 mm.; back with a broad yellow middorsal stripe, bordered on each 

 side by a dark brown stripe of equal width, beneath which is a light 

 brown band; belly yellow; ventrals about 180: western Texas to 

 California and Utah; common, especially in rocky places. 



9. Phyllorhynchus Stejneger. Small slender snakes with a large 

 triangular rostral shield giving the snout a truncated appearance; anal 



