714 13. COLUBRID 
pleted. There are four postoculars, where but three nor- 
mally occur. The body scales, save for the interpolation of 
an incomplete gastrostege which extends but half way across 
the body, are quite typical and numerically are within the 
limits given by Cope. 
“This snake was kept in captivity for more than a year, 
confined in a glass terrarium with a screened top. It was 
provided with water and at intervals small white mice were 
fed to it; one of these bit the snake on the head and pro- 
duced a “scalp” wound. One morning after the animal 
had been in captivity for about four months the skin on the 
preorbital portion of its head was seen to be free from the 
scales beneath. Some straw was placed in the terrarium 
and within a few minutes the snake was working rapidly 
back and forth through the straw, freeing itself from the 
old skin. At the place where its body was just being freed 
from the skin, violent muscular expansions and contractions 
were being executed. The surface of the snake’s body and 
the outside, originally the inside, of the sluffed skin were 
noticeably moist as a result of the secretion which had been 
poured out to assist in moulting. For several weeks previous 
to moulting the snake had been quite sluggish, remaining 
coiled in one corner of the terrarium and refusing food. 
During this time its eye became gradually dulled and the 
skin was seen to be free from the body in several places. 
Immediately after the moult the animal became very active.” 
