REPTILES 



215 



lateral band bordered beneath with black; belly plain yellowish: 

 Mississippi Valley, from the Great Lakes to Texas; common. 



N. clarkii (B. and G.)- Length 790 mm.; tail 178 mm.; color brown, 

 with 4 bands of deep brown; belly yellow, with 2 brown bands dotted 

 with black: coastal regions from Florida to Texas. 



A^. kirtlandii (Kennicott). Length 400 mm.; tail 100 mm.; color 

 light brown or reddish, with 2 series of rather indistinct round spots on 

 the back alternating with a series of large black blotches on each side; 

 belly red in the middle portions, with a row of dark spots on each side; 

 upper labials 6: north-central States, from Wisconsin to New Jersey; 

 common in the west; rare in the east. 



Fig. 121. — Natrix sipedon {from Cope). 



N. compressicauda (Kennicott). Length 560 mm.; tail 130 mm.; 

 color gray, with irregular, obscure darker bands; belly gray or brown, 

 with a central series of yellow spots; tail flattened at base: southwestern 

 Florida. 



.V. sipedon (L.) (N . fasciata L.). Common water snake (Fig. 121). 

 Length 960 mm.; tail 200 mm.; color brown, with 30 or 40 yellowish or 

 reddish, often indistinct transverse bars which may widen on the sides; 

 belly yellowish or white, with many brown or red spots; scales in 23 or 

 25 rows: eastern and central States; westward into Colorado. 



N. fasciata (L.). A series of cross bands; belly yellowish or reddish, 

 more or less spotted: Atlantic coast from North Carolina southward; 

 westward to Louisiana and up the Mississippi Valley to Nebraska and 

 Indiana. 



N. erythrogaster Foster. Dorsal bands broken into blotches the 

 entire length of body; in young individuals belly uniform, unspotted; 

 in adult (in the east also save new-born) uniform above: New York to 



