The Rat Snakes or Colubers 



a pale olive hue — is a distinct and dark band. At this stage 

 the reptile may be said to display the patterns of both the young 

 and adult phases. From this period, the ground-colour steadily 

 becomes paler, the blotches more obscure and the bands more 

 vivid. The length of time, to complete this transition, varies 

 with the individual. Captivity retards the process. The 

 writer believes that the wild reptile has completed the 

 change within a period of slightly less than three years. 

 A captive specimen, which upon arrival showed both the 

 spots and stripes, changed its pattern considerably by the 

 fading of the former, during eight months' time, when, unfor- 

 tunately, it was killed by a larger snake and the observations 

 brought to a close. 



The length of the adult Four-banded Coluber is slightly 

 over five feet and usually specimens of this size are striped on a 

 body-colour of uniform yellow. At the time of writing, however, 

 an interesting individual is at hand. It is nearly six feet in 

 length, and strikingly blotched, while it displays the stripes as 

 well. Two other specimens, neither over three and a half feet 

 long, are banded and show no traces of the blotches. These 

 exceptions may be accounted for by the influence of certain 

 food on the snake's growth. The large (blotched) specimen, 

 probably hatched in a locality where food for all stages of its 

 growth was plentiful and it so rapidly increased in size 

 that the dimensions of a large, adult individual were at- 

 tained before the pattern had been given sufficient time to 

 go through its transition. The small snakes, to the contrary, 

 evidently hatched in a locality offering little variety of food; 

 their growth was thus stunted although time effected the change 

 in colouration. 



It is from the pattern of the young of the Four-banded 

 Coluber, that we trace the relationship of this snake to the Pilot 

 Blacksnake, which, as has been explained, appears dark brown 

 when examined from certain angles in a brilliant sunlight and 

 exhibits traces of four dark bands. 



Dimensions. — Adult specimens are quite variable in size. 

 The writer has had many specimens under four feet long that 

 laid fertile eggs. He has also examined specimens considerably 

 over five feet in length. Following are the measurements of 

 the average adult: 



310 



