GILPIN ON THE SERPENTS OF NOVA SCOTIA. 83 



flies, though I frequently offered them. He would not touch milk, 

 but like others I have had was fond of water, drinking it, and con- 

 tinually gliding through it. 



One day I found his whole appearance changed, bright yellow 

 rings of the liveliest colour encircled his body. On close examina- 

 tion I found that the scales which cover the body of all snakes, 

 (except the abdomen and beneath the tail which are covered by 

 scutella) are capable of separation, one from the other, when the 

 skin is distended beneath them, and in this specimen the skin being 

 bright yellow, this caused the yellow ring. Doubtless the puff 

 adders when enraged and swollen ow T e their brilliant colour to this 

 power. DeKay, speaking of the garter snake, says, it often 

 changes its colours, but does not allude to the cause. In my speci- 

 men it was caused by distension from feeding ; it returned the next 

 day to its usual coloring. It performed the function of respiration 

 about twice in a minute. 



The eggs of this species are found repeatedly under stones and 

 banks, yearly, in the Province. They are dark olive, flattened 

 roundish pellets, soft, apparently glutinous, and attached to each 

 other by the extremities, and forming chains of from twenty-five to 

 thirty and about one-third inch in diameter. On opening them a 

 small snake is found coiled within them already with the typical 

 marks of the adult. These eggs are usually picked up in August, 

 and when kept will hatch out about the middle of that month — a 

 period later than that of other reptiles which spawn in early spring. 

 Three eggs of the garter snake (E. sirtalis) were sent by mail to 

 Halifax ; Archdeacon Gilpin, who received them, handed them over 

 to his son. They were placed in a cigar box with gravel and about 

 the middle of August one hatched out, a few days after birth small 

 detached bits of skin were picked up in the gravel, and in a day 

 or two an entire skin everted and perfect to the eyes was found. 

 This analogy with seals and perhaps all mammals including man 

 whose babies shed their hair directly after birth, is striking. This 

 young snake was very lively, ate or drank nothing, began to fade 

 about the end of October, and died in November. This is the most 

 numerous snake of our Province. He affects dry rocky positions, 



