THE SNAKES 249 



many as sixty young are produced alive, during the 

 later part of August or early in September. 



The Brown Water Snake, T. tcuvispilotus, found 

 from Maryland to Florida and westward, along the 

 Gulf States to the Mississippi, is the largest, most for- 

 bidding in aspect and the ugliest water snake of the 

 United States. Above, the color is rusty brown with 

 three rows of square, alternating chocolate brown spots 

 or blotches. The body is proportionately stout, the head 

 long, much swollen at the temples, with the eyes placed 

 far forward. Old snakes look more dangerous than 

 the deadly water moccasin, (Ancistrodon), with which 

 thev sociallv bask on derelict timber. 



Along the sluggish southern rivers the Brown Water 

 Snake abounds, growing five feet long with a girth of 

 six inches. During a collecting trip in the Savannah 

 River lowgrounds, the writer found this the commonest 

 snake. Friendly clusters, entwined with aquatic snakes 

 of other species, were seen on the limbs of dead trees 

 that had fallen into the lagoons. Our search was prin- 

 cipally for the various water snakes and shy indeed 

 are these creatures, many of them showily colored. 

 They must be stalked in such cautious fashion that be- 

 fore the copper-wire noose — on the end of a long bam- 

 boo pole — is over the reptile's head and the operator has 

 a chance to make a move of any consequence, the mos- 

 quitoes have settled in voracious clusters over his hands, 

 face and neck. It is during these moments, when the 

 snake is almost won, yet the torture from the fiendish 

 insects is becoming unbearable, the snake catcher grinds 

 his teeth in martyrdom to his work — sometimes to behold 

 the coveted prize glide into the water and away some 

 little distance, making a second stalking process neces- 

 sarily more cautious than before. Well does the writer 



