214 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Length to anus. 

 Length of tail . 



Distribution. — Hammond's Garter Snake is confined 

 to southern California, where it has been taken in San 

 Diego (San Diego, Agua Caliente), Riverside (Hemet 

 Valley, San Jacinto), San Bernardino (Ontario), Los 

 Angeles (Los Angeles), Ventura (Santa Paula), Inyo 

 (Owen's Valley), Kern (Fort Tejon, Kern River), 

 Tulare (Kern River Lakes, Trout Meadows), and Fresno 

 (Fresno) Counties. 



Habits. — Like other members of its genus, this snake 

 swims well and is usually found in or near water. Its 

 food consists mainly of aquatic animals, such as fish, 

 frogs, and tadpoles. One specimen was caught with a 

 good-sized trout in its teeth. Captive individuals some- 

 times change their colors very quickly, in accordance 

 with the lightness or darkness of the objects upon 

 which they rest. 



Family XIII. CROTALID^. 



The Crotalidce or Pit Vipers are represented on the 

 Pacific Coast and in the Great Basin by six kinds of 

 rattlesnakes. These are our only poisonous serpents, 

 and may be distinguished from the harmless forms by 

 their possession of a pit in the side of the face between 

 the eye and the nostril, and a horny, segmented rattle 

 at the tip of the tail. They are provided with large 

 plates along the belly, and the head is covered with 

 small scales. The eye is well developed, with vertical 

 pupil. There are no rudiments of limbs. Both jaws 

 bear teeth, and near the front of the upper jaw are 

 large, perforate, erectile poison-fangs. 



