18 THE SNAKES OF THE MARITIME PROVINCES OF CANADA. 



found it containing fully developed embryos, and, like those of 

 most serpents, the young are very seldom seen until they have 

 attained a length of about six inches. It is quite inoffensive. 



Eutsnia Sirtalis Linnaeus. 



Garter Snake. 



The genus Eutsenia is but one of the many genera into which 

 the cosmopolitan Coluber has been divided by modern herpo- 

 tologists, and owes its origin to Baird and Girard, who, however, 

 included under it some North American snakes also previously 

 assigned to the genus Tropidonotus. Some twenty-rive species 

 and a large number of varieties have been described, but many 

 are so closely related as to scarcely deserve specific rank, while 

 more are merely regional varieties. Indeed the species of this 

 genus are the most prone to variation of all the snakes of North 

 America. Our form, sirt'dia, might be said to be more or less 

 common in North America from Guatemala to the boreal region, 

 and from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains, perhaps to the 

 Pacific coast, though Prof. Cope doubted the specific identity of 

 the so-called sirtalis of that slope with the ordinary one. 



As might be inferred from the very extensive and varied 

 character of its range, this species is extremely variable. Fully 

 a dozen subspecies have been described by authors, but many 

 of them rest on characters largely individual and of little value, 

 therefore, as grounds of differentiation. Still the fact remains 

 that a species so prone to variation in different sections of its 

 range, and in a limited area so prolific in individual differences, 

 must furnish the naturalist with more or less well-defined sub- 

 species, originating in certain geographical regions wherein the 

 physical conditions of life and environments are SfMnewhat dis- 

 similar. Even in the maritime provinces of Canada, the colour 

 variations are considerable, but the writer's investigations fail 

 to connect any of them with any particular habitat. It seems 

 to be due to individualism, or a singular commingling of char- 

 acters peculiar in other parts of North America to distinct 

 species, or at least subspecies. For instance, a type colour often 

 met with is distinguished by a lateral series of more or less 



