IIo THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
This snake is most frequently found hiding under flat stones, 
and in such places the reptile searches for its favorite food, 
which consists of earthworms. 
The Brown Snake is viviparous, producing from fifteen to 
eighteen young during August. During the first year the young 
snakes are very dark with a whitish ring around the neck. At 
this stage they resemble the young of the Ring-Necked Snake, 
FIG. 15. DEKAY’S, OR BROWN SNAKE 
but they may be distinguished therefrom by their keeled scales. 
When adult, the average length of the Brown Snake is about 
fourteen inches. 
Range: Canada and the eastern United States from the 
Atlantic coast westward to Kansas and southward to Mexico. 
Local distribution: Common in rocky localities. 
The Storer’s Snake, or Red-Bellied Snake, Storerta occipito- 
maculata (Fig. 16), closely resembles the Brown Snake, but may 
be distinguished therefrom by its bright vermilion 
underside. Down the back of Storer’s Snake there is 
usually a well-defined stripe of a lighter shade than the 
body color, which is brown or dark grav; occasionally specimens 
are slaty gray with a light stripe down the back bordered with 
rows of minute black spots. On such specimens the bright red 
of the underside is especially intense. It is a smaller species 
Red-Bellied 
Snake. 
