The Water Snakes 



i 



the Central States it extends northward into Michigan, specimens 

 from which locality are very dark brown or blackish above, 

 while the plates of the abdomen show clouded black edges, which 

 narrow toward the centre. Westward, this snake ranges to Col- 

 orado, while it also occurs in northern Mexico. The most 

 strikingly brilliant examples and the greatest numbers occur 

 in South Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida. 



Habits. A large specimen taken by the writer in the "low- 

 grounds" of Hampton County, South Carolina, disgorged, dur- 

 ing the excitement attending its capture, eleven "suckers," 

 three sun fish and a craw fish, or "fresh-water lobster." The 

 crustacean was of moderate size and armed as it was with a 

 formidable pair of mandibles, must have formed a very awkward 

 object to swallow. 



This snake displays much the same habits as the common 

 water snakes with which it frequently associates in the swamps 

 and waterways. 



THE COMMON WATER SNAKE, BANDED WATER SNAKE; 



"MOCCASIN" 



Tropidonotus fasciatus, variety sipedon, (Linn.) 

 This is the well-known, dingy brown water snake, ener- 

 getically stoned by the country boy, as it basks on the branch 

 of a tree, overhanging the water. Its range embraces a greater 

 area than does that of the typical form covering the Eastern 

 States generally, from southern Canada to North Carolina, and 

 extending westward to Kansas. 



Colouration. Pale brownish or reddish, crossed by wavy, 

 dark brown bands on the forward portion of the body. These 

 bands are much broader on the back, causing the back to appear 

 dull brown, and crossed by narrow lines of pale brown or yellow. 

 Narrowing on the sides, the bands are separated by broad inter- 

 spaces of the ground-colour, which resemble upright and trian- 

 gular (usually reddish) bars. On the latter part of the body the 

 bands break into blotches, of which there is a series down the back 

 and another series on the sides, in alternation with those above. 

 It is this breaking up of the bands on the latter portion of the 

 body that gives the reptile its right to a varietal name. Al- 

 though the strongly banded appearance of the sides imparts 



