76 Walter E. Meshaka, Jr. 



However, clutch sizes from south Florida S. dekayi were smaller 

 than northern populations as predicted by Fitch (1985) and unaffected by 

 female body size. Possibly, a high relative clutch mass and an 

 unaltered breeding season limit this population to one brood annually. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS— I would like to thank John W. Fitzpatrick, 

 Station Director, for support for this project at Archbold Biological 

 Station. Betty S. Ferster assisted in collecting snakes. Henry R. Mushinsky, 

 James N. Layne, and Sam D. Marshall reviewed an earlier version of 

 this manuscript. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Bull, J. J., and R. Shine. 1979. Iteroparous animals that skip oppor- 

 tunities for reproduction. American Naturalist 114:296-303. 



Clausen, H. J. 1936. Observations on the brown snake, Storeria dekayi 

 (Holbrook), with special reference to the habits and birth of young. 

 Copeia 1936:98-102. 



Dalrymple, G. H., T. M. Steiner, R. J. Nodell, and F. S. Bernardino, 

 Jr. 1992. Seasonal activity of the snakes of Long Pine Key, 

 Everglades National Park. Copeia 1991:294-302. 



Fitch, H. S. 1970. Reproductive cycles of lizards and snakes. Univer- 

 sity of Kansas Museum of Natural History Miscellaneous Publica- 

 tion. 42:1-247. 



Fitch, H. S. 1985. Variation in clutch and litter size in new world 

 reptiles. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Miscella- 

 neous Publication. 76:1-76. 



Iverson, J. B. 1979. Reproductive notes on south Florida snakes. Florida 

 Scientist 41:201-207. 



Jones, L. 1976. A large brood for a Maryland Storeria dekayi dekayi. 

 Bulletin of the Maryland Herpetology Society 12:102-103. 



King, R. B. 1993. Determinants in offspring number and size in the 

 brown snake, Storeria dekayi. Journal of Herpetology 27(2): 175- 

 185. 



Kofron, C. P. 1979. Female reproductive biology of the brown snake, 

 Storeria dekayi, in Louisiana. Copeia 1979:463-466. 



Seigel, R. A., and H. S. Fitch. 1984. Ecological patterns of relative 

 clutch mass in snakes. Oecologia 61:293-301. 



Received 15 June 1993 

 Accepted 15 September 1993 



