360 KANSAS UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



mouths but they did not try to close their jaws. At the age of 

 two months they had become quite gentle, but they would strike 

 and hiss occasionally when startled. They were still not able 

 to inflict any injury. Their length had increased to eighteen 

 ioches. October 19 they began to molt. Conditions were not 

 favorable and the process took several days. The skin being 

 molted was so thin and delicate that it broke and was sloughed 

 off in patches. 



I buried five young Bull Snakes and one adult December 5. I 

 placed them in a box partially filled with earth and rubbish and 

 buried them about two and one-half feet deep. I took them up 

 again March 10. They were all in good condition, but were not 

 very active until April 10. For three or four days after this 

 the young snakes were very active and would crawl rapidly to- 

 wards the cage door and try to escape whenever it was opened. 

 They were more pugnacious than they had been when placed 

 in their winter quarters. April 15 I fed them, using a pipette 

 with a large rubber bulb at the end, filling the pipette and bulb 

 with a half mixture of egg and water, thrusting the tube down 

 their throats about six inches, and forcing the contents into 

 their stomachs. This was the first food they had taken since 

 their birth. They were at this time nineteen inches in length. 

 The taking of food brought back some of their pugnacity, for 

 they hissed and struck whenever disturbed. They were still un- 

 able to inflict a wound on one's hand. 



The Bull Snake feeds upon rats, mice, gophers, birds, and 

 other small animals. One, three feet in length, that I had in 

 this laboratory last summer, swallowed three fully grown spar- 

 rows for one meal and the next day it swallowed a pigeon egg. 

 It is now six months since this snake's big meal and it has eaten 

 nothing more. This snake molted twice from July 1 to Janu- 

 ary 1. 



The Bull Snake occurs throughout the state. It has been 

 reported from Franklin, Republic, (Uoud, Brown, Mitchell, 

 Shawnee, Lyon, Doniphan, Clay, Harvey, Sumner, Ford, Pot- 

 tawatomie, Sherman, Phillips, Osborne, Greenwood, Neosho, 

 Jefl'erson, Wallace, Scott, Gove, Clark and Logan counties. 



