m w S ORB STATE mi 81 I M 



which designates most correctly some character. In tin 



where Buch names did not exist, descriptive names have been 



coined. 



Anatomic characters 

 - pents, or Bnakes, arc reptiles with highly elongate, cylindric 

 bodi '1 with Bcales, this covering being Bhed entire at cer- 



tain is of the year. External limbs are cither, as in onr species, 



entirely wanting, or very rudimentary. The month i> capable of 



it distension, most of the hones of the head being united by 

 ligaments or muscles only, and possessing therefore great freedom 

 of motion. External ear- are lacking; as are eyelids, the eye being 

 protected by an immovable layer of transparent epidermis, winch 



Lied with the skin. The tongue is forked, capable of protrusion, 

 and retractable into a sheath. Teeth are always present, on both 

 palatine bones and jaws. The digestive and respiratory organs are, 

 like the general form, much elongated. The paired organs dungs, 

 etc.) are rarely bilaterally symmetric, one of the pair being usually 

 rudimentary or wanting. The stomach is a simple enlargement of 

 the digestive canal. 



The snakes form a very compact and well marked group, easily 

 separable by external characters from the nearest related forms. 

 Among the lizards, it is true, certain serpentiform species occur, 

 but not within the region covered by this paper. 



But little definite information is at hand concerning the breeding 

 habits of our snakes, even of the more common species. It is 

 known that certain species are oviparous (laying eggs) while others 

 are ovoviviparons (the e^g being developed and the young hatched 

 before exclusion from the body of the mother). From the scanty 

 data obtainable it seems probable that the New York species belong- 

 ing to the genera olub e r, Z a m e n i s, C y c 1 o p h i s, Lio pel ti S, 

 Osceola and Ophiboln> are all oviparous ; while in those 

 3 i >r e ri a. X atri x, K n t a e n i a, A n c i s t r o d o n, Sis trn r u s 

 and Orotalus the young are brought forth alive, owing to an 

 early breaking of the eggshell. The manner of birth of the 

 Bpecies of I) i ado phis, (' a r p h op h iops and Pit. yo phis is 

 unknown: and it Beems possible that in Heterodon platy- 

 rh inns both forms of birth may occur. 



