BRANSON : SNAKES OF KANSAS. 377 



The following are scutellation and measurements of four speci- 

 mens in the Kansas University museum : 



Color above brown ; forty-five to fifty-five dorsal spots from 

 occiput to end of tail. These spots are two scales long by ten 

 scales wide. Alternating with them is another series of spots 

 on each side. These are two scales long by four wide. There 

 are four rows of spots on each side of the dorsal row. The spots 

 in the last row are very small. They give to the sides a finely 

 mottled appearance. The spots are dark brown. The color of 

 the abdomen is white, maculated by a series of black spots. 

 These cover two-thirds of the length of each gastrostege and 

 extend over three gastrosteges antero-posteriorly. The spots 

 corner with each other, making the series zigzag. Occasionally 

 the abdomen is entirely black. Urosteges black. Throat white. 

 A white band extends from the eye across the last three upper 

 labials to the angle of the mouth. A white band extends across 

 the superciliaries and frontal connecting the eyes. Inferior la- 

 bials white. Superior labials darker above. 



This snake is very gentle and it is almost impossible to induce 

 it to bite. It is needless to say that it is not poisonous. It feeds 

 upon birds and small mammals. A large specimen that I cap- 

 tured in Scott. county had just swallowed a full-grown meadow- 

 lark (Sturnella magna negleda) . I kept one in this laboratory 

 for six months. During that time it would not take food of 

 any kind, and it finally died of starvation. H. A. Brous (4, 

 II, 136) tells of a strange habit of this snake. He once found 

 a small turtle {Cislndo ornata) with a Hog-nosed Snake attached 

 to its hind foot. It took no little effort to force the snake to re- 

 lease its hold. As there was little blood in the limb and none 

 had escaped from the snake's mouth, it had probably been suck- 

 ing the turtle's blood. The snake had evidently been holding 

 to the foot for some time. Mr. Brous examined many turtles 

 after this discovery and found that the hind feet were in many 

 cases mutilated. The front feet were not injured, because the 

 turtles were able to defend them. Inquiry revealed that other 



