298 ZOOLOGY. 



SP. CH. Body long and slender ; head short, broad, and high, thicker than neck. Dorsal rows 20 or 2] ; stripes faint or 

 partly wanting, with two rows of brown or black spots, about one hundred in number, on each side, confluent with the stripes. 

 Scales of tail and outer dorsal row distinctly carinated. Labials, 8 above, the sixth and seventh largest, higher than wide. 

 Ground color above light olive brown, the stripes paler; beneath, slate color. 



Found in the Yakiina valley in August, but is known to extend also west of the Cascade 

 range. C. 



Found at Puget Sound and at Fort Boise, on Snake river. While on Boise river I saw a snake 

 apparently of this species, which, upon being pursued, retreated to a small hole in the ground, 

 the calibre of which was just sufficient to admit its occupant. Whether the hole had been 

 excavated by the serpent, or was simply the burrow of some small rodent, I had no means of 

 ascertaining. S. 



EUTAINIA CONCINNA, Baird & Girard. 

 PLATE XV, REPTILES, FIG. 2. 



The oiie-stripcci Garter Snake. 



Tropid-inolus concinnus, HALLOW. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. VI, 1852, p. 182. 

 Eutainia concinna, B. & G. Cat. N. Amer. Serpents, 1853, p. 146. 



CH. Body moderately lengthened. Head small. Dorsal rows, 21, carinated. Vertebral stripes, yellow -. no lateral 

 stripes, but in their place a series of 75 salmon red spots or bars extending from the second to sixth row of scales, and covering 

 om half to two scales width. Ground color black, belly slate or greenish black, whitish anteriorly. Head reddish jellow, 

 tinged with brown. 



Found at Vancouver, and not observed along the coast. S. 



Were it not for the distinction in the scales of the head and back, which in this genus are 

 relied upon as specific characters, and even divide the species into groups, these five species 

 might be combined into two by their colors. E. cooperii, leptocephala, and vagrans, approach 

 each other very closely, and pickeringii, especially the variety with one stripe, much resembles 

 concinna in fact, some specimens have much the appearance of being hybrids. More obser 

 vations and specimens will be required to decide what characters are truly specific. 



All these garter snakes have very similar habits, and are equally harmless. It is generally 

 believed that those with carinated scales, like the three last species, are more aquatic in their 

 habits and I did notice this to be the case with vagrans and leptocepliala; but all of them live 

 not far from water, and in the dry season, at least, are found almost always near it. Another 

 favorite resort is the Indian burying-grounds, where the corpses, placed above ground, attract 

 numerous insects; and it is these, not human flesh, which form the food of the beautiful little 

 garter snakes, notwithstanding the association of graves and serpents so common in the minds 

 of poets and people. 



The Indians have something of the same natural (?) horror of even harmless snakes that per 

 vades more civilized races; and it is due to the same ignorance, for they have frequently told 

 me that snakes were poisonous which I handled with perfect impunity. Perhaps, also, super 

 stition is connected with this antipathy. C. 



EUTAINIA HAYDENII, K e n n i c o 1 1 . N. S. 

 PLATE XIV. 



SP. CH. Head broader and more depressed in front than in E. radix. Form stout, compact, and cylindrical, most so of the 

 genus, except E. radix. Ground color light olive green, with three longitudinal yellow stripes, and six series of distinct black 

 spots. In life some red coloring visible on the sides. Lateral stripe on the third and fourth rows less sharply defined than in 

 . radix. Dorsa! rows, 21. KENNICOTT. 



Fort Pierre, Nebraska. Dr. EVANS. 



