70 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



snake delicacies are there plentiful two conditions 

 of life, which, if a snake possess, fully satisfy it here 

 below. It is perfectly harmless, not being able to 

 open its small mouth sufficiently wide to bite a person 

 if it would ; although by twisting about one's wrist 

 or finger it may cause an involuntary snaky shudder 

 to creep up his back. 



The second species with the conic head indistinct 

 from the body is Virginia's snake, Virginia elegant 

 Kennicott. It is light olive brown above and yellow- 

 ish beneath, while scattered over the 



upper surface are numerous small black 

 Snake. 



dots, resembling points made by a hue 



pen. The scales are in 17 rows, very narrow and 

 faintly keeled. In Indiana Virginia's snake has been 

 recorded only from Brown County. Its habits are 

 unknown, but presumably the same as those of the 

 worm snake, since it frequents similar localities. 



Two other small snakes remain to be mentioned, 

 and although neither is strictly brown yet they AVI 11 

 be treated of in this connection. One is the "ring- 

 necked snake," Diadophis punctatus (L.). a handsome 

 little reptile, blue-black above, pale 



The orange below, and with a conspicuous 



Ring=Necked n i i rni. 



Snake yellowish ring about the neck. Ine 



smooth scales are in 15 rows, and on 

 the outer end of each of the ventral plates there is 

 usually a small black spot, while a median row of 

 similar spots is sometimes present on the under side 

 between the head and tail. 



Growing to a length of a foot or more, the ring- 

 necked snake is usually found beneath the loose bark 



