1912] Ditmars: Feeding Habits oj Serpents 223 



United States and Asia. Two common species, both of a brilliant 

 green, inhabit the United States. The species of these genera are 

 particularly interesting owing to their insectivorous habits. From 

 his observations of small species of snakes and dissections of numer- 

 ous preserved specimens, the writer is not inclined to believe that 

 many snakes feed upon the imagoes of insects, though it is probable 

 that a number of the very small, secretive species not infrequently 

 devour the larval forms of coleopterous insects. With Cydophis 

 and Liopeltis, the species feed generously upon the imagoes of various 

 insects. These snakes are most frequently to be found among low 

 bushes and in vines ; but they occasionally prowl in stone piles. They 

 feed upon orthopterous insects, grasshoppers and crickets, and the 

 writer has found the remains of beetles in the stomachs of preserved 

 examples. All of the species are particularly fond of the hairless 

 larvae of the noctuid and geometrid moths, and a considerable num- 

 ber of dissected specimens showed these reptiles to often feed upon 

 spiders. Long observation has demonstrated, strangely enough, that 

 they will not eat earthworms, the partial food of a great number of 

 the smaller serpents. The species of Cydophis will eat small lizards. 

 Abastor and Farancia, both genera of rather doubtful relation- 

 ship, though immediately allied to one another, are each composed of 

 a single large and handsome species inhabiting the low coastal region 

 of the southeastern portion of the United States. Both species are 

 burrowers and from their substantial build would appear to subsist 

 upon frogs and toads. Repeated experiments with a great series of 

 adult examples of both species have resulted in inducing these rep- 

 tiles to partake of but one type of food and under a single, unvarying 

 condition, when these reptiles freely feed. The provision described 

 involves the provision of a shallow tank, well stocked with frog tad- 

 poles. The method of capturing the prey resembles that of the water 

 snakes, although representatives of the spedies could not be induced 

 to take fish. Very young specimens of Abastor erythrogrammus feed 

 upon earthworms, but this food appears to be discontinued when the 

 snake is a few months old. The members of both genera are ovipa- 

 rous; the eggs requiring about eight months for incubation. 



Subfamily Rhaciodontinae: The single species, Dasypeltis 

 scabra, of Africa is characterized by the extreme modification of the 

 teeth which are much reduced in number and the presence of sharp 

 edges of several of the vertebrae extending into the sesophagus. 

 This highly specialized structure is employed in cutting the shells of 



