Sp eae PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 389 
was 53 inches long. The mother snake was 35 inches long. Dr. J. 
Schneck, of Mount Carmel, UL, writes* that seventy-eight were taken 
from a female. He implies that he saw this done. C. Few Seiss sayst 
that the sexes of this species copulate in early spring and produce from 
thirteen to eighty young. That he has seen the latter number from a 
single snake he does not say. Drs. Coues and Yarrow refer{ to the 
habits of Hutainia sirtalis parietalis, as observed by them in Montana 
during the month of August. ‘ At this season all the female individ- 
uals observed were gravid with nearly matured embryos. Like others 
of the genus, this species is ovoviviparous, the young being some 6 
inches in length when born.” In a specimen of £. sirtalis (U, 8S. Nat. 
Mus., No. 17960) captured near the city of Indianopolis by Dr. Alex. 
Jameson about August 1, | find thirty-nine partially developed young. 
Of these twentyfive are in the right uterus. The young measure 6 
inches in length. There is a considerable amount of yolk still re- 
maining attached to these young, a fact which indicates that they will 
increase in size before birth. An examination of the mouth of some of 
these little snakes shows that the egg-tooth is present. The membrane 
which surrounds each egg is quitethin, The female bearing this lot of 
young is 33 inches in length. Another female (U.S. Nat. Mus., No. 
17961), from Paris, IIL, of nearly the same size, contained about thirty- 
five young snakes, these being packed together sodensely in the mother’s 
body that it was difficult to determine the number accurately without re- 
moving them. They are each 7 inches long, and are evidently just - 
ready to be expelled. An examination of about half a dozen of them 
failed to reveal the presence of the egg tooth, which has therefore been 
shed. Nor could I determine with certainty that any egg-covering was 
present. The yolk of the egg, also, is wholly consumed. On opening 
these young snakes I find little or none of the yolk within the body. In 
this respect they contrast strongly with the young of the rattlesnakes. 
The young garter-snakes must from the first depend on their own activi- 
ties for support. This accords well with the report of Mr. C. Few Seiss,t 
that the young of a female kept in confinement began to feed shortly 
after birth, struggling vigorously with one another for the earthworms 
thrown them. At what time during the summer the Paris, Ill., specimen 
was captured Ido notknow. Seiss’ statement that the sexes of L. sirta- 
lis pair in the early spring has already been mentioned. Drs.Coues and 
Yarrow (op. cit., p. 275) tell us that the females of the closely related spe- 
cies, H.radix, are pregnant in Julyand August, bringing forthas many as 
thirty to forty young; and that they are found in coitu in September and 
October. Can it be that snakes copulate twice in the year, as Agassiz 
says§ some turtles do, and as Gage has recently found || to be the habit 
otf the newt, Diemyctylus? Observations on this point are to be desired. 
*Amer. Nat., Vol. xvi, p. 1008. 
t Scientific Amer., Vol. Lxut, p. 105. 
t Bulletins U. 8S. Geol. & Geo. Survey, Vol. Iv, p. 277. 
§ Contributions, Vol. 11, p. 491. 
|| Amer. Nat., Vol. xxv, p. 1091. 
> 
