LITTLE BROWN SNAKE. 697 



Habitat, Canada, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, 

 South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana ; north to Ohio and Michigan, 

 and west to the plains. ' 



The Ring-necked Snake is occasionally found in Ohio, hut it is rare. 

 It occurs under stones, but more commonly under the bark of decayed 

 trees, and, like the Eutainise, when handled, emits a strong and dis- 

 agreeable odor. 



Var. amabilis, Baird and Girard, may be distinguished from the above 

 by having the eye over the third and fourth labials, the abdomen crowded 

 with black spots, and a narrow occipital ring. It ranges from California 

 to Texas and eastward as far as our limits, being occasionally found in 

 Ohio. 



Genus STOREEIA. Baird and Girard. 



Body small; head rather short, easily separable from the neoli:; teeth smooth and 

 equal ; cephalic region covered with plates ; loral absent, rarely present ; postfrontals and 

 prefrontals each a pair ; nasals two ; auteorbitals one or two ; postorbitals two ; oocipitals 

 large; labials and inframaxillaries ot good size; rostral rather small; dorsal scales in 

 15-17 rows, oarinated ; gastrosteges, 120-140 ; urosteges, 40-55 ; anal plate bifid ; ovovi- 

 viparoas. 



Anteorbitals one ; dorsal scales in 17 rows. ..... S. dekati. 



Auteorbitals two ; dorsal scales in 15 rows. . . . S. occipito-maculata. 



Stokebia dekayi Holbrook. 



liittle BroTvn Snake. 



Coluber dekayi, Holbkook. 



Coluier ordinatus, LiNNiBUS, Storer. 



Tropidonottis dekayi, Holbrook, DbKat. 



Storeria dekayi, Baird and Girard, Cope, Jordan. 



Ischnognathus dekayi, Dtjmbril and Bibron, Gunther. 



General color above grayish-brown, with a somewhat lighter vertebral band margined 

 by dotted lines ; a black bar extending from the oocipitals to the angle of the mouth ; 

 two black spots below the eye ; abdomen and under parts greenish to grayish white ; 

 vertical plate broad, snb-pentagonal, shorter than commissural line of occipitals ; ante- 

 orbitals one ; upper and lower labials each seven on a side ; inframaxillaries reaching to 

 sixth lower labial ; eye small, above the fourth upper labial ; dorsal scales in 17 rows ; 

 gastrosteges, 120-150; urosteges, 40-60. Length, 1 foot; head, 5^ lines; tail, 2i inches; 

 transverse diameter of head, 3 lines ; of neck, 2 lines ; circumference of body 3-| inches. 



Habitat, Maine, Massaohnsetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, South Carolina, 

 Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan. 



In the State the Little Brown Snake occurs at Cleveland and in north- 

 western and central Ohio, and probably is met with occasionally in all 

 parts. It is an aquatic little animal, feeding upon insects, and perfectly 



