153 



whereof we write in tliis regard, as we have been bitten by this 

 snalie until the blood flowed and no more pain was felt than would 

 be experienced by scratching with a very sharp needle. 



The Common Water Snake is to be distinguished by the keels 

 on all scales and the number of rows, which is twenty-three. They 

 have about one hundred and sixty ventral plates, with large reddish 

 or brownij^^h spots on the under side, and the anal plate bifid. 

 Strange to say, this harmless snake is often mistaken for the 

 Copperhead and sent to us for that very poisonous species, but it 

 has no fangs nor venom and in fact does not belong to the same 

 family as the Copperhead or Rattle Snake. It is to be distinguished 

 by its long slender tail, and especially by its lack of the pit between 

 the eyes and nostrils, which is found only in venomous serpents, 

 and also by the divided urosteges or plates beneath the tail (Plate 

 XIV and XV), which in the venomous reptiles are not divided (Figs. 

 20 and 22). 



The general color of the Water Snake is brownish, with a dorsal 

 row of large square dark blotches and a row of smaller blotches 

 on each side, which are so arranged that they alternate with the 

 dorsal blotches. However, these blotches may at times he almost 

 obliterated, and it is then nearly a uniform brown above. The under 

 Side is blotched with triangular reddish-brown blotches on a back- 

 ground which is generally pale yellow. The adult reaches from 

 thirty to fifty inches in length, and of course, younger specimens 

 are shorter. 



The Water Snake is found abundantly along streams from New 

 England to Kansas and southward and is one of the most common 

 serpents in this State. We have received specimens from thirty- 

 three counties of this State and do not doubt its existence in con- 

 siderable numbers in all the oilier counties. Our present records 

 are as follows: 



Adams County, Miller, P. E Heidlersburg. 



Hoff nag-el, H New Oxford. 



Osborm, C. L Aspers. 



Michner, Anna and Ray Aspers. 



Allegheny County, Couch, Witmer Carnegie. 



Berks County, Sauler, Mary "W. Leesport. 



Sherman, J. M., "W. Leesport. 



Neithamer, F Reading. 



Whitman, Mary Reading. 



Fritz, Mary E Boyertown. 



Grim, W. H. , Hamburg. 



Bucks County McGarvey, R., Richboro. 



Oppenlander, Dorothea, Paseer. 



Atkinson, J. W Buckingham. 



Bewley, Anna K., Newton. 



Cameron County, Blinzler, E., Emporium. 



