BATRACHIAN> AND REPTILES OF ONTARIO. 11 



Class REPTILIA. (The Reptiles.) 



The Reptiles are cold blooded air-breathing vertebrates, usually scaly 

 or covered with bony plates. The limbs when present, are usually adapted 

 for walking, in some few instances for swimming. 



Repro uction viviparous, oviparous or ovoviviparous. The eggs of the 

 oviparous species are mostly provided with a tough leathery skin and are 

 deposited in holes dug in the earth or amongst decaying vegetable matter. 

 There is no metamorphosis after leaving the egg. 



Reptiles may be distinguished from Batrachians by the presence of 

 scales and by the absence of gills in all stages. 



Order OPHIDIA. (The Serpents.) 



Reptiles with elongate, cylindrical bodies, no limbs. The skin, which 

 is covered with imbricated scales, is shed at intervals. The mouth 

 is very dilatable, the bones of both jaws being freely movable. 



But very little is positively known as to the reproduction of any of 

 our snakes and so a wide field is open for work and observation. 



The majority of people believe that all snakes are poisonous and 

 should therefore be destroyed. Such belief is largely the result of ignor- 

 ance combined with prejudice. The only injurious animals of this class we 

 have are Rattlesnakes, and they are now extremely scarce and local. All 

 our other snakes are useful, feeding upon and thus destroying vast num- 

 bers of such pests as mice, voles and injurious insects, and consequently 

 should be allowed to live unmolested. 



FAMILY COLUBRID^E. (THE COLUBRINE SNAKES.) 



Both jaws fully provided with teeth, which are conical and not 

 grooved ; head covered with shields ; no poison fangs ; belly covered with 

 broad band-like plates (ventral plates or gastrosteges) ; tail conical, taper- 

 ing ; sub-caudal plates (urosteges) arranged in pairs. All our species are 

 quite incapable of inflicting serious injury upon man or beast and most of 

 them are beneficial by reason of their destruction of insects and field mice. 



GENUS STORERIA. 



(1) Storeria occipitomaculata. 



(Red-bellied Snake.) 



No uncommon. Feeds largely upon soft bodied insects. Perfectly 

 inoffensive. A useful species. 



(2) Storeria dekayi. 



(Little Brown Snake.) 



Quite common and generally distributed. Feeds upon insects and 

 their larvae. Perfectly inoffensive. A useful species. 



