THE SNAKES OF NEW YORK STATE: AN 
ANNOTATED CHECK LIST. 
EDWIN C. ECKEL. 
No paper on the ophidian fauna of this state has appeared 
since Baird’s “Serpents of New York,” published in the Seventh 
Annual Report on the Condition of the State Cabinet, Albany, 
1854. That which is now presented is merely a list of those 
species which have been mentioned more or less definitely as 
occurring within our limits. 
The notes which I have added are of two classes. In the 
case of species whose presence within the state is doubtful, 
I have given the authority for their inclusion. In this con- 
nection I have endeavored to give credit, for the introduction 
of new species into our faunal lists, to those to whom it is due. 
My own observations on the snakes of this state have been 
confined largely to that portion of the state which I traverse 
during my geological field work. With this area and with its 
fauna I am fairly well acquainted, having spent my summers 
for the past twelve years within it. I have, therefore, added 
a few notes upon the occurrence and abundance of the various 
species in southeastern New York. This area, as the term is 
used here, has geological rather than geographical boundaries. 
Roughly defined, it includes the counties of Orange and Rock- 
land, on the west of the Hudson, and those of Westchester, 
Putnam, and the southern half of Dutchess, on the east of the 
river. It is an area of crystalline rocks, bordered on the north 
by a usually well marked depression based on limestones and 
shales. In one case at least: (e herpetology mcus to be 
affected by the geology. The rattlesnake is rarely seen out- 
side of the Highlands, while the copperhead is abundant in 
the great Cambro-Silurian lowland which adjoins the High- 
lands on the north. The ophidian fauna of the region 1s rich 
ISI 
