REPTILES. 95 



friend of tlie fanner. One snake is worth a dozen Irajts, for llie 

 reptile prowls into the bnrrows and nests of rats and mice and eats 

 the entire brood. 



"Like all of the Colnbers, the Fox Snake deposits a <-onsid(M-al>le 

 number of eg*gs, generally in the hollow of a rolling stump, and 

 leaves them without further ado, to hatch within six or eight weeks 

 time. The eggs gradually increase in size by al)sorbing- the moisture 

 of the wood pulp in which they are de])Osited. Just jnior to hatch 

 ing, an egg is a third or half larger than wlicn it was lai<l. One 

 of the writer's specimens deposited 12 eggs on tlic first of duly. 

 They Avere adhesive in a single cluster. These eggs began hatching 

 on the 21st of August, and all had not hatched until abcnit ten days 

 later. The female specimen was three and a half feet in length 

 and in proportion to her size the young were very large." 

 A specimen taken in Huron county by the writer (Ruthven, 1011 a. 

 266) had eaten four young rabbits. 



Range: The species has been reported from: Grosse Isle (Baird 

 and Girard, 1853, 75-76), south shore of Saginaw liay (Miles, isi;i, 

 233), Grosse Isle (Cope, 1900, 832), St. Clair County (Huthven, 

 1909a, 110), Dickinson County (Ruthven, 1910, 59), Stony Island 

 and sand region of Huron County (Ruthven, 1911a, 2GG). Speci- 

 mens have been examined from: Pearl Beach and Herseu's Island. 

 St. Clair County, Stony Island and Sand Point, Huron County, 

 Brown Lake, Dickinson County, and Monroe County. Captain C. 

 C. McDonald, light-house keeper (m Charity Island, has inf(M-ined 

 the writer that lie killed a pair of these snakes in coitu on the 

 island a number of years ago. Captain McDonald is familiar with 

 the species, and the record can be accepted, aliho the snake has not 

 since been observed on the island. 



NATRIX SIPEDON (Linnaeus). 



WATERSNAKE. 



Coluher sipedon, Sager, 1839, 302. 

 Tropidonotus sipedon, Smith, 1879, 6. 



^^atrix fasciata sipedon, Clark, 1902, 1!)4; 1903, 173. Notestein, 

 1905, 117. Cope, 1900, 909-972. Clark, 190:>>b. llankinson, 



1908, 230. 

 Natrix sipedon, Kirsch, 1895, 333. Thompson, 1911. 100. Rntliven. 



1911, 115; 1911a, 209. 

 Natrix sipedon fasciata, Clark, VM):k 109. 

 Katrix erythrogaster, Clark, 19(12, 194; llMi;;, 172; l!Hr,. 109; VMV.\h. 



