360 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



which designates most correctly some character. In the few cases 

 where such names did not exist, descriptive names have been 

 coined. 



Anatomic characters 



Serpents, or snakes, are reptiles with highly elongate, cylindric 

 bodies, covered with scales, this covering being shed entire at cer- 

 tain seasons of the year. External limbs are either, as in our species, 

 entirely wanting, or very rudimentary. The mouth is capable of 

 great distension, most of the bones of the head being united by 

 ligaments or muscles only, and possessing therefore great freedom 

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

 protected by an immovable layer of transparent epidermis, which 

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

 and retractible 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 (lungs, 

 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 ovoviviparous (the egg 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 Coluber, Zamenis, Cyclophis, Liopeltis r 

 Osceola and Ophibolus are all oviparous ; while in those of 

 Storeria, Matrix, En taenia, Ancistrodon, Sistrurus 

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

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

 species of Diadophis, Carphophiops and P i t y o p h i s is 

 unknown ; and it seems possible that in Heterodon platy- 

 rhinus both forms of birth may occur. 



