180 Trans. Acad. Sri. of St. Louis. 



measured over five feet. Another time I caught oue feast- 

 ing on Yellow Hammers. This snake swallows hen's eggs 

 entire, not crushing them when partly down the throat. 

 I have an egg which I dissected out of a snake. The lower 

 end is softened by the action of the gastric juice but the 

 forward end is still intact. Dr. G. B. Goode includes this 

 snake among those which are said to "swallow their 

 young," i. e., when danger appears the mother allows her 

 young to crawl down her throat for safety. I have never 

 seen this done. Black Snakes feed on rabbits, rats, mice, 

 quail, and other birds. Like many other snakes the Black 

 Snake vibrates its tail, making a rattling or whirring 

 sound. The species is oviparous. One I had in captivity 

 laid nineteen eggs, none of which, however, contained an 

 embryo. The eggs were cylindrical with spherical ends, 

 some 60 mm. long and 22 mm. in diameter. 



Dates of capture. — April 4, 8; June 25; July 8, 24; 

 Sept. 1. 



66. Elaphe confinis Baird and Girard. Gray Coluber. 

 Gray Rat Snake. Spotted Chicken Snake. 



Coluber confinis, Coluber obsoletus confinis, Scotophis confinis, Scoto- 

 phis laetus, Coluber laetus, Coluber rosaceus. 



Description. — Rostral slightly projecting, little visible from above. 

 Internasals much smaller than the prefrontals. Frontal rather longer 

 than wide, a little longer than its distance from the end of snout. Parie- 

 tals large, truncate behind. Loral small. One preocular, two post- 

 oculars. Temporals 2-3. Upper labials eight, seventh the largest, fourth 

 and fifth entering the eye. Eleven lower labials, fifth the largest, four 

 in contact with the anterior chin shields, which are longer than the 

 posterior. Dorsal scale rows 27 (occasionally 28), 11 or 13 slightly 

 keeled. Ventrals 231-258. Anal divided. Subcaudals 75-96 pairs. 



Color. — Color above yellowish gray or ashy, with dark brown spots, 

 narrowly margined with black, five or six scales long, and from thir- 

 teen to fifteen wide; longitudinally quadrate in shape, interspaces 

 about two scales long. On the second to the fifth rows the lateral spots 

 are elongated and exhibit sometimes a disposition to form an indistinct 

 stripe. Belly yellow, clouded posteriorly, and with dark spots on the 

 ends of the ventrals and the outer scale rows; a dark post-ocular 

 stripe, some indistinct mottling on the borders of the labials. 



