REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST 1902 1*143 



but the writer has never seen more than two varieties of Eutaenia 

 sirtalis in the county of Rockland, one with bright spots, E. 

 ordinata, spotted, and one with bright lines, E. sirtalis, striped. 

 It is even possible, in the opinion of the writer, that these are 

 not varieties, but subvarieties. The young and old of this snake 

 also differ in a most remarkable way. Cope thought that the 

 sirtalis was the ancestral form of the genus. It is the least 

 specialized of all. 



2 THE CROTALINE SPECIES 

 Poisonous 



" PIT VII'EKS » 



Ancistrodon contortrix (Linn.) 

 Copperhead 



Of all snakes the copperhead is the most interesting to the 

 writer. It is very common in Rockland county, and in a number 

 of localities it occurs frequently enough to be dangerous. With 

 one or two exceptions, copperheads are always found living on 

 elevated rocky places, which are occasionally at a considerable 

 distance from water. 



An exceedingly vicious specimen was found on the very summit 

 of the Hook mountain, which is about 800 feet above the nearest 

 water (Rockland lake, 2 miles away). There were no ponds or 

 pools whatever on the mountain, but possibly reptiles find water 

 underneath the rocks in places or collect it from dewy leaves. 

 The region is arid enough for the prickly pear, which flourishes 

 on the rocky hilltops of the range. 



The local name of this snake is the " copper " ; the southern is 

 the " cottonmouth," a name also given to the moccasin. In the 

 villages of the county this dangerous reptile is well weeded out; 

 but it is still unpleasantly numerous on farms, in woodlands and 

 along the Hackensack river. At a place back of Haverstraw, 

 some years ago in the springtime, a farm-hand discovered a 

 great nest of copperheads and rattlesnakes in an old cellar and 

 killed a great many of them with a whip. Six were found one 

 dry morning in the summer of 1897,' with the aid of a friend, on 

 Snake hill, over Nyack. 



