122 HERPETOLOGY OF MICHIGAN. 



"Ditmars (1907, 235-23G) gives the following interesting account 

 of the hibernating habits : • 



^The favorite situations in which to pass the cold months are in 

 soft soil on a slope that faces the south. Here the reptiles burrow 

 down a yard or more. Rock}' situations are often selected, and 

 among the clefts and fissures, one opening into another, the snakes 

 are enabled to retire to a considerable depth from the surface. 



^It is in the fall that these snakes congregate in large numbers on 

 ground that is suitable for the winter's sleep. Here they sun them- 

 selves during the middle of the da}', retiring into clefts and burrows 

 during chilly autumn nights. As the nights become colder, their 

 basking periods during the day are shortened, and finally, after 

 the first severe frost, they remain below the ground for the winter. 

 Instinct seemingly attracts them to these places of hibernation, for 

 such spots are usually poor feeding grounds and have been devoid 

 of snakes during the summer months. In spring, the breeding time, 

 the reptiles remain in numbers until the weather has become well 

 settled and the danger of needing good shelter from the cold spells 

 has passed. Then they scatter into the ravines, the thickets, along 

 streams and brooks, until the scene that has abounded with sinuous, 

 craw'ling life is deserted.' 



^^This account harmonizes verv w'ell with the writer's observa- 

 tions in southern Michigan. In the latter region they are found 

 in the autumn on sunny hillsides in the immediate neighborhood 

 of holes, into which they hasten when alarmed, but that they dig 

 these holes themselves yet remains to be proven, nor after the be- 

 ginning of the period of hibernation do they necessarily 'remain 

 below the ground for the winter,' for if periods of marked modera- 

 tion in the temperature occur they will come out in December. 

 Januar}', or February. Thus, on January 22, 1906, which was a 

 w^arm day (60° F.) in a period of very moderate temperature, a 

 collector for the University of Michigan Museum reported seeing 

 a large garter-snake near Grass Lake, Washtenaw^ County, Michi- 

 gan, which was undoubtedly this species." 



Range: The species has been reported from: Michigan (Sager, 

 1839, 302; Miles, 1861, 233), Ann Arbor (Smith, 1879, 6), Hudson 

 and Manitou Beach, Lenawee County (Kirsch, 1895, 333), Grosse 

 Isle and Port Huron (Cope, 1900, 1073), Eaton County (Clark, 

 1902, 194), Porcupine Mountains, Ontonagon County (Ruthven, 

 1904, 189, 191), Ann Arbor, Olivet, and Antrim, Barry, Kalamazoo, 

 Kent, Mackinac, Montcalm, Ottawa and Van Buren Counties 

 (Clark, 1905, 109), Bessemer, Gogebic County, Isle Royale, Kewee- 



