89 



Prof. Hallett); Mouroe county (Bollraan^; Irvington ; Terre Haute 

 (Blatchley); Denver, Miami county, (Nor, Sch. coll.); Wabash 

 couuty (Ulrey) ; Franklin county (Butler). 



The colors of this little serpent are such as harmonize well with its 

 usual surroundings, the soil and dead grass, leaves, and slender, broken 

 branches of trees. I have observed no evidences of its being aquatic, 

 but some observers make such statement. DeKay reports that all that 

 were seen by him were either in the water or in the vicinity of it. One 

 taken by him was swimming across a bay of Long Island Sound. 

 All that Holbrook has to say about it is that it frequents meadows and 

 places where the grass is of luxuriant growth, and feeds on various 

 insects, as crickets, grasshojipers, etc. They are ovoviviparous. 

 A female, taken at Cumberland Gap, Tenn., and in midsummer, con- 

 tained eleven eggs. The eggs Avere .37 inch by .25. 



Storeria occipitomaculata, (Storer). 

 Storer's Snake. 



Tropidonotus occipitomacidatus, Storer, 1839, 76, 230 ; Storeria occipito- 

 maculata, Baird and Girard, 1853, 6, 137 ; Garman, 1883, 13, 30, pi. 1, 

 fig. 2. 



Averaging smaller in size than S. dekayi, which it resembles in propor- 

 tions and in coloration. Snout short and blunt. Anteorbitals 2. Pos- 

 torbitals 2. Nasals 2, with the nostril mostly in the anterior. No 

 loral. Upper labials 5 to 6, growing larger posteriorly, the eye over 

 third and fourth. Lower labials 6 or 7. Scales keeled ; arranged in 

 fifteen rows. Ventral scales 117 to 128; subcaudals 43 to 50. 



Color olive to reddish gray or chestnut brown. Along the back there 

 is a paler stripe about three scales wide, and this is usually edged with 

 dusky. Bordering the pale vertebi'al band and situated in the dusky 

 border in each side is a row of brown dots. The vertebral band and the 

 dots may all be faint or entirely absent. Often there is a yellowish stripe 

 on the lowest row of scales. Head like the body, but mottled with brown. 

 Behind the occipital plate is a spot of yellow, salmon in life, and a sim- 

 ilar spot on each side just behind the corner of the mouth. The fourth 

 and fifth labials with a small spot of similar color. Below, the color is 

 yellowish ; in life salmon or brick-red. The ends of the ventrals mottled 

 with dusky. 



Length of grown specimens about one foot. 



The territory occupied by this animal extends from Maine to Wiscon- 

 sin and south to Georgia and Texas. In Indiana it is doubtless to be 

 found everywhere. It has been collected at the following localities : New 



