95 



it was uot harmed. In the stomach of one iudividual I foimd a number 

 of young mice ; in another were two old and six young mice. 



This species probably reaches a greater size than any other snake that 

 we have. Dr. Robert Ridgway tells me that he killed one at Mt. Car- 

 mel, 111. which he estimated to be over nine feet long. It made no 

 resistance when attacked and was as easily killed as an ordinary snake 

 two or three feet long. This species has the habit, common with many 

 snakes, of vibrating its tail so as to make a rattling or whirring sound. 

 This probal)ly serves to warn the larger animals of its presence, so that 

 they may avoid it. 



Dr. G. B. Goode includes this snake among those which are said to 

 " swallow" their young; that is, when danger threatens they open their 

 mouths, in order to allow the young to pass down the mother's throat for 

 safety. More observations need to be made on this subject. 



I have been able to find in print no observations on the breeding habits 

 of this snake. When and where are the eggs laid? How many of these 

 are there? How soon do they hatch? These are a few of the things 

 that many a farmer's boy might be able to find out for us. Two indi- 

 viduals were taken at Fall Creek, Marion County, while in sexual union. 

 This was on June 19. The male was 5 ft. 3 in. long ; the female was 

 6 ft. 3 in. The female contained sixteen eggs. They have a thick cov- 

 ering, and must be laid before hatching. Prof. Blatchley writes (5^, '91, 

 31) that he kept one, 5 ft. 7 in. long, for sometime in confinement. It 

 would, on being disturbed, vibrate its tail in such a way as to make a 

 rattling sound. When the room was entered at night with a lamp the 

 snake would hiss with a loud, gurgling noise. A large Horned Owl, kept 

 in the same room, was attacked by the snake, tightly enveloped in its 

 coils and so badly crushed that it soon died. 



Maximilian {103, xxxii) has confirmed the popular notion that the 

 snake will eat fowls' eggs. One entered his room, climbed to a vessel of 

 eggs, and swallowed a number of them. After the eggs had passed down 

 the throat the shells were crushed by a powerful constriction of the walls 

 • of the stomach. 



Genus NATRIX, Laurenti. 



A'afn.r, Laurenti, 1768, 109, 73 ; Tropidomtus, " Kuhl, 1826, 77, 205"; 

 'Cope, 1875, 12, 42; Garman, 1883, 13, 22; Nerodia and Regina, Baird 

 and Girard, 1853, 6, 38, 45. 



Form varying from stout to slender. Head distinct from the body. 

 ■Crown-shields 9. Loral present. Auteorbitals 1 or 2. Postorbitals 

 2 or 3. Nasals divided with the nostril between. Scales conspicuously 

 Reeled ; arranged in from 19 to 33 rows. Anal plate divided. 



