LITTLE BROWN SNAKE. 697 
Habitat, Canada, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana; north to Ohio and Michigan, 
and west to the plains. 
The Ring-necked Snake is occasionally found in Ohio, but it is rare. 
It occurs under stones, but more commonly under the bark of decayed 
trees, and, like the HEutainix, when handled, emits a strong and dis- 
agreeable odor. 
Var. amabilis, Baird and Girard, may be distinguished from the above 
by having the eye over the third and fourth labials, the abdomen crowded 
with black spots, and a narrow occipital ring. It ranges from California 
to Texas and eastward as far as our limits, being occasionally found in 
Ohio. 
Gzxvus STORERIA. Baird and Girard. 
Body small; head rather short, easily separable from the neck; teeth smooth and 
equal ; cephalic region covered with plates ; loral absent, rarely present ; postfrontals and 
prefrontals each a pair ; nasals two ; anteorbitals one or two; postorbitals two ; occipitals 
large ; labials and inframaxillaries of gocd size; rostral rather small; dorsal scales in 
15-17 rows, carinated; gastrosteges, 120-140; urosteges, 40-55; anal plate bifid ; ovovi- 
viparous. 
Anteorbitals one; dorsal scales in 17 rows. : : . : .  §. DEKAYI. 
Anteorbitals two; dorsal scales in 15 rows. : , : S. OCCIPITO-MACULATA. 
STORERIA DEKAYI Holbrook. 
Little Brown Snake. 
Coluber dekayi, HOLBROOK. 
Coluber ordinatus, LINNZUS, STORER. 
Tropidonotus dekayi, HOLBROOK, DeKay. 
Storeria dekayi, BAIRD and GIRARD, COPE, JORDAN. 
Ischnognathus dekayi, DUMERIL and BrBRON, GUNTHER. 
General color above grayish-brown, with a somewhat lighter vertebral band margined 
by dotted lines; a black bar extending from the occipitals to the angle of the mouth; 
two black spots below the eye; abdomen and under parts greenish to grayish white; 
vertical plate broad, sub-pentagonal, shorter than commissural line of occipitals; ante- 
orbitals one ; upper and lower labials each seven on a side; inframaxillaries reaching to 
sixth lower labial; eye small, above the fourth upper labial; dorsal scales in 17 rows ; 
gastrosteges, 120-150; urosteges, 40-60. Length, 1 foot; head, 53 lines; tail, 24 inches; 
transverse diameter of head, 3 lines; of neck, 2 lines; circumference of body 34 inches. 
Habitat, Maine, Massachasetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, South Carolina, 
Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Illinois, Ohiv, Michigan. 
In the State the Little Brown Snake occurs at Cleveland and in north- 
western and central Ohio, and probably is met with occasionally in all 
parts. It isan aquatic little animal, feeding upon insects, and perfectly 
