11. Heterodon platyrhinus (Latreille), Hog- 

 nose Snake. General and common throughout most 

 of Long Island; rare on the north prong (Southold 

 township). Spring date. May 15, Gardiner's Island. 



The favorite habitat of the Hog-nose appears to 

 be the sand dunes, where toads (Bufo fowlert) , upon 

 which this snake almost exclusively feeds, also occur 

 in great abundance. On several occasions during 

 July and August, 1908, the young were encountered 

 in amazing numbers among the dunes at Rockaway 

 Beach, and their tracks made a hieroglyphic network 

 among the hollows of smooth sand. A party of camp- 

 ers on the beach had captured a hundred or more 

 young Hog-noses and had placed them in a barrel of 

 water, from the notion that they belonged to an aqua- 

 tic species. Most of the young snakes were drowned. 



Only the spotted form of this species has been 

 observed on the beaches, but the black form is not 

 uncommon in the wooded regions about Jamaica. Mr. 

 W. T. Davis has a specimen which was "of uniform 

 slate color," collected at Yaphank, July 14, 1907. 



The Hog-nose Snake seems to be abundant along 

 the south coast of Long Island all the way to Mon- 

 tauk Point. Several were seen in a well at Promised 

 Land. 



12. Crotalus horridus Linn, Banded Rattle- 

 snake. Formerly not uncommon in swamps and pine 

 barrens of Long Island, but now doubtless very rare. 

 A fine specimen, collected about thirty years ago, is 

 in the collection of the Long Island Historical So- 

 ciet} r . Another specimen upon authentic informa- 

 tion, was killed at Centre Islip in 1903. A set of 

 rattles from a specimen killed about 1870 is in the 

 possession of Miss Clara Weeks of Yaphank. 



The practical extirpation of the Rattlesnake on 

 Long Island probably followed closely on the east- 

 ward extension of the Long Island Railroad in 189o. 

 The snakes acquired the fatal habit of sunning them- 

 selves on the railroad embankments, and of lying 

 across the heated rails. According to Mr. A. H. 

 Helme, one of the last strongholds of the rattlers was 



