122 
Charles R. Blem 
young remains to be shown, but it probably is related to aspects of energy 
mobilization and amount of lipid reserve in larger snakes. 
Other than the correlations between female size and size of young, the 
present studies indicate no significant correlation between head length 
and width, between number of subcaudals and ventrals, or with degrees 
of melanism. Head lengths and widths and subcaudal counts are sexually 
dimorphic, and the scatter introduced into a mixed litter of male and 
female young probably obscures correlations between scale counts of the 
parent and young. Melanism apparently increases with age, as adult 
females generally score higher than their young (see Table 2). Lack of a 
significant correlation between ventral counts of parents and young may 
be due to low overall variation in ventrals. 
Table 1. Weight of fat bodies and body weight in adult eastern cottonmouths at 
Hopewell, Virginia (± 1 standard error). 
Reproductive 
females 
Nonreproductive 
females 
Males 
Mean body weight (g) 
430.8 ± 30.4 
402.6 ± 28.7 
857.2 ± 60.6 
Mean fat weight (g) 
12.3 ± 2.1 
15.4 ± 2.2 
33.7 ±4.3 
Percentage fat 
2.9 
3.8 
3.9 
N 
24 
14 
68 
Table 2. Relationship of morphometries of young cottonmouths to female parents. 
Values are means, r = correlation coefficient, Y = measurement of 
young, F 
== measurement of 
female. 
Females 
Young 
r 
Equation 
N 
10 
80 
— 
— 
Body weight (g) 
363.5 
17.3 
0.70* 
Y = 0.018 FT 10.168 
Snout-vent length 
(mm) 747.2 
211.3 
0.58* 
Y± 0.061 FT 11.039 
Melanism 
38.1 
17.3 
0.40 
Ventrals 
133.2 
132.9 
0.40 
Subcaudals 
41.5 
44.6 
0.22 
Head length (mm) 
44.3 
20.5 
0.34 
Head width (mm) 
34.9 
13.2 
0.42 
*P<0.05 
