114 
THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 
C. — The snake becomes torpid during winter, I believe ? 
F, — Yes : it conceals itself in the fall^, in some conve- 
nient spot^ such as under logs, often in heaps of stones, and 
sometimes^ I have reason to think, in the earth ; for in 
ploughing late in the autumn, I once turned up a chequered 
snake : it was inert and dull, but not torpid. 
C, — At what period of the year does it cast its skin ? 
F. — I believe that is the first operation performed, after 
its revivification in spring, and before it leaves its winter 
concealment. An intelligent neighbour informed me that 
once in turning over a heap of stones early in spring, before 
the snow had all disappeared, he discovered a snake in the 
very act of sloughing its skin ; the skin was stripped off from 
the head to about the middle of the body ; the displaced part 
lay around it in close folds or wrinkles : even the eyes were 
skinned. If I recollect aright, in Bingley's Animal Biogra- 
phy it is intimated that the snake crawls among the stalks 
of plants, in order that the skin may be rubbed off by fric- 
tion, and that it is turned inside out, as we draw off a stock- 
ing. My neighbour's account appears far more probable : 
besides, it is supported by analogy ; for it is exactly the 
mode in which all caterpillars slough their skins, as I have 
many times witnessed. The food of the snake is frogs, 
toads, lizards, and probably insects. I once killed a snake 
which I found in the field, (supposing then that it was 
poisonous,) by dashing it against the ground : and some- 
thing protruded, which I supposed was its bowels, but on 
examination, I found it to be the pretty olive-spotted frog, 
with an orange-coloured belly (Rana Halecina ?) : it, too, 
was torn, but whether this was done by the snake, or by the 
shock against the ground, I don't know ; I suspect the latter, 
and that it had been swallowed whole, and probably alive. 
A friend of mine informed me that he once saw a snake of 
unusually large size, and determined to kill and open it ; 
