VARIATIONS OF GARTEK-SNAKES. 113 



Range. — As is well known, sauritus is found in the forest region 

 of eastern United States. Characterized by mild temperatures and 

 a plentiful rainfall, this region supports an abundant arboreal vegeta- 

 tion that extends to the northward to the limit of tree growth and 

 to the westward to the prairies. It includes two types of biota, the 

 northeastern conifer, and southeastern deciduous forest types. 

 The northeastern coniferous forest is characterized by such trees as 

 the larch, balsam, white and black spruce, white and red pine, etc., 

 and centers in the Lauren tian highlands, while the southeastern 

 deciduous forest type possesses the sugar maple, white ash, beech, 

 and several oaks, and centers about the southern Appalachians. 

 These two types of biota intergrade for a considerable distance in 

 Michigan, New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont, although the 

 higher parts of the Appalachians carry an outlying tongue of the 

 northeastern coniferous type as far south as Georgia. The deciduous 

 forest reaches its greatest development in southeastern United States 

 and, as already noted, grades into the prairie through the so-called 

 "fringe forest," which covers all of Ohio and Indiana, and margins 

 the prairie in Illinois, Missouri, southeastern Kansas, and east-central 

 Texas. 



Specimens of sauritus have been examined from the following 

 localities: Roscommon County, Alma, Olivet, Washtenaw County, 

 Lapeer County, Rawson Lake, and Lansing, Michigan; Waterloo, 

 Lake Maxinkuckee, Veedersburgh, Lebanon, and Wheatland, Indi- 

 ana; Medina County, Toledo, and Oberlin, Ohio; Delaware County, 

 Darby, Londongrove, Allegheny County, Carlisle, and Indiana County, 

 Pennsylvania; Haddonfield and Pleasant Point, New Jersey; Tioga 

 County and Highland Falls, New York; Middletown, Connecticut; 

 Wellesley, Sherborn, Woods Hole, and Lancaster, Massachusetts; 

 Auburn, Maine ; Chepachet Island, Rhode Island; Arlington, Vir- 

 ginia; Laurel, Maryland; Washington, District of Columbia; Avoca, 

 Summerville, and Wilmington, North Carolina. 



These localities represent the entire range of the form, as at present 

 known, and it is not necessary to cite the numerous records in the 

 literature. From these records it is evident that, if the form is 

 properly defined, the range is closely confined to the southeastern 

 forest region, north of Florida and east of the Mississippi River and 

 the prairie peninsula. The northernmost localities known to me are 

 Roscommon County, Michigan, Norway and Auburn, Maine, which 

 would indicate, as is undoubtedly the case, that the form occurs in 

 extreme southern Canada. It will thus be seen that sauritus does not 

 enter the northeastern forest proper, but pushes well into the inter- 

 mediate region between this forest and that of southeastern North 

 America, 



