40. THAMNOPHIS 807 
Gastrosteges: do ) 
Parietalis. -_.._. Ee ee 165.4 161.1 
(Gon crm se 164.3 156.4 
inher alispie eee oe 168.7 163.7 
Urosteges: 
ea nret als eee emer ies etd 85.2 76 
Conc nm usp — 84.2 76.8 
Infernalis 5 =.= ee ee ee 89.8 82.8 
Habits—These snakes usually are found in moist 
places or swimming in fresh water ponds or sluggish 
sloughs. The food is known to consist of small fish, tad- 
poles, and insects. One specimen had eaten a full-grown 
toad. Grinnell and Grinnell state that near Bixby, Los 
Angeles County, dozens were observed May 22, 1904. 
Sometimes half-a-dozen were together, in corners of old 
duck-hunters’ blinds, voluntarily braided into knots. When 
handled, this snake, like other members of the genus, makes 
itself obnoxious by the emission of extremely malodorous 
matter provided by special glands, doubtless as a means of 
defense. 
Garter-snakes now (1918) are very rare at Pyramid 
Lake, Nevada. That they formerly were very abundant 
there is shown by the following note, which probably per- 
tains to this subspecies: 
“Along the shores of the large island in Pyramid Lake 
vast number of Eutenie are found, comprising this, and, 
in all probability, several other recognized varieties. Dur- 
ing the heated part of the day, the mossy tracts in the tepid, 
shallow water of the little inlets were thronged with them, 
as they swam in gentle undulations over the smooth surface 
or idly basked on the heated rocks along the shore. In no 
other locality have we ever seen them in such numbers. 
