156 



and frogs, there seems to have been nothing published heretofore 

 concerning the fact that it feeds extensively upon insects and mam- 

 mals, in addition to fishes and amphibians. These features of its 

 feeding habits should give it a high place in the regards of the 

 husbandman, and while it is one of the most destructive animals 

 in fish ponds and along trout streams, our investigations prove 

 that it may at times have a practical economic value in the de- 

 struction of grasshoppers, crickets and meadow mice. Also, while 

 the Water Snake is justly charged with the destruction of Trout 

 at times, it must be recognized that it feeds mostly upon such 

 fishes as White Suckers, Catfish and Star Gazers or species which 

 are enemies of Trout, because they feed upon their eggs and young 

 whenever possible. The evidences, here shown for the first time 

 that it also feeds upon salamanders, tadpoles and toads, as well 

 as frogs, are against it from an economic standpoint, because 

 these creatures are valuable in destroying insects and slugs. On 

 the whole, the Water Snake, although harmless from a physical 

 point of view, must be regarded as one of our objectionable reptiles 

 from the ecoiiomic standpoint. 



The table of food of this species from the seventy specim'ens which 

 we have examined is as follows: 



No. Specimens: Food Materials: 



2 Insect fragments with Toad remains. 



1 Undet. Species Orthoftera. 



5 Two-striped Grasshoppers. 

 1 Striped Brown Cricket. 



1 Undet. Ground Beetles. 



2 Undet. Vertebrates. 



6 Undet. Fish. 

 2 Catfish. 



1 White Sucker. 



1 Cottua richardsoni. 



1 Cottus ictalops. 



1 Undet. Salamander. 



1 Plethodon cinereus (Salamander). 



1 Tadpole. 

 4 Toads. 



2 Green Frogs. 



1 Undet. Mammal. 



1 Meadow Mbuse (Microtus pennsylvanicus). 



1 Common Shrew (S. personatus). 



The Water Snake is ovovivijiarous, bearing its young very late 

 in the season. We have examined specimens of living young in 

 the parent as late in flic season as the last of September. From 

 onr examinations of the reproductive bodies in the Water Snake 

 we dei'ive certain con(;lusion as follows: 



The Hndeveloped gonads or eggs are about seven-sixteenths of 

 an inch in diameter, and do not commence to develop until May, 



