120 E. E. Brown 



calligaster rhombomaculata) ; 2 turtle eggs, from two specimens collected in 

 late May and mid-June; and a decaying post-nestling Mockingbird 

 known to have been eaten as carrion. 



Snakes examined were from Carteret, Columbus, Mecklenburg and 

 Surry cos., NC, and Colleton, Orangeburg and Williamsburg cos., SC. 



Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides, Scarlet Kingsnake. 



Two snakes, from Berkeley and Sumter counties, South Carolina, con- 

 tained three specimens of the lizard, Scincella lateralis. 



Lampropeltis calligaster rhombomaculata, Mole Kingsnake. 



Six stomachs yielded 12 food items: 11 small mammals (1 adult 

 Microtus pinetorum, 10 young Microtus pennsylvamcus, 1 undetermined); and 

 1 snake (Opheodrys aestwus). One snake had taken three young meadow 

 voles which, from their sizes, were clearly from two different litters. The 

 largest meal, five young meadow voles, had been taken by an egg-laden 

 female snake in early May. 



Snakes were from Mecklenburg and Rowan cos., NC, and Spartan- 

 burg Co., SC. 



Cemophora coccinea copei, Northern Scarlet Snake. 



Some early literature statements regarding food of Cemophora are rather 

 vague. Dickson (1948) first noted this snake's feeding on reptile eggs, and 

 contributions by Neill (1951), Minton and Bechtel (1958) and Palmer 

 and Tregembo (1970) also focused on this topic. 



Most Cemophora that I examined did not contain food. A specimen from 

 Moore County, North Carolina, taken in late July, contained remains of 

 three small snake eggs (possibly Diadophis). An individual from 

 Brunswick County, collected in late May, had swallowed two small eggs, 

 apparently of a snake. A specimen collected in mid-June in Sumter 

 County, South Carolina, contained a collapsed egg "shell" 8 mm long, 

 evidently of Scincella lateralis. It was far down in the intestine and appar- 

 ently was going to pass through the gut undigested. This snake has been 

 cornered in a sunken cistern and partly swallowed, tail first, by a large 

 Bufo terrestns. The intestines of several snakes contained one or more small 

 masses of sandy or earthy material, but these masses did not include 

 earthworm setae. The stomachs of one or two of my early snakes con- 

 tained pale, yellow, fluid material. When I later saw Dickson's (1948) 

 note, I realized this might have been ingested egg material. 



Tantilla coronata, Southeastern Crowned Snake. 



Five snakes contained remains of five small centipedes and two small 

 beetle larvae of cucujoid type. 



