SNAKES. 67 



being smooth and in 15 rows, is the smooth green 



snake, Lioj)eltis vernalis (DeKay). It is much less 



common in Indiana than the summer 



8nake and is f Und usuallv in the tal1 

 rank grasses which grow about the 



margins of marshes and swamps. There it lies in wait 

 for the green grasshoppers and katydids which are so 

 abundant in such a place. Except in these grasses it 

 is seldom seen higher than the surface of the ground. 

 Its eggs, an inch and a half long, were found by one 

 observer beneath the bark of an old stump, and one 

 young snake, just hatched, was five inches in length. 



Group VI. Small Brown Snakes. 



The snakes heretofore mentioned comprise the 

 giants of the family as found in Indiana. We shall 

 now deal for a time with the dwarfs. Six of the 29 

 species occurring in the State, when full grpwn, sel- 

 dom, if ever, exceed 16 inches in length. 



The m.ost common of the six is known as DeKay's 

 brown snake, Storeria dekayi (Holbrook). -It is grayish- 

 brown in color, paler beneath, has a narrow pale band 



along the back and a dark spot behind 

 Brown Tnake. each eve - Tne scales are keeled and 



in 17 rows, and the average length is 

 about one foot. This is one of the first snakes seen 

 in the spring, a specimen having been taken by the 

 writer as early as April 2nd. Like many other species 

 it is then usually found close to water, and doubtless 

 breaks its long fast upon one of the small "cricket" 

 or "peeper" frogs, whose shrill and countless voices 



