104 
Robert E. Herrington 
Between March 1977 and May 1981, I monitored a separate 
population of N. taxispilota by mark-recapture techniques. The study 
area was along a 900-m section of Commissioner Creek (Oconee River 
tributary), 0.5 km N of Toomsboro, Wilkinson County, Georgia. At this 
location, the creek is approximately 20 m wide and has a maximum 
depth of 3 m. Numerous shallow oxbows and water-filled depressions 
occur adjacent to the study area. The predominant woody vegetation 
bordering the creek consists of tupelo ( Nyssa aquatica ), sweet gum 
( Liquidambar styraciflua), bald cypress ( Taxodium distichum), and 
alder (Alnus serrulatd). 
I visited this site approximately four times per month from March 
through October during 1977 and 1978. The frequency of visits was 
reduced to monthly during 1979 and continued at this rate through May 
1981. Using a canoe, I attempted to capture each specimen sighted. 
Once captured, snakes were sexed, measured (SVL and TL), and individually 
marked by clipping subcaudal scales (Blanchard and Finster 1933). 
Adults were examined for evidence of recent courtship activities by 
swabbing the interior of the cloaca (Fukada 1959). I palpated adult 
females for enlarged ovarian follicles or embryos and checked for the 
presence of cloacal plugs (Devine 1975). Most snakes were released near 
the point of capture within 24 hours. 
Eleven adult females captured outside the study area were 
maintained in captivity for up to 6 months, and five of these produced 
litters. Newborn snakes were measured and weighed as described above, 
and released in the study area. Growth rates were determined from 
recaptures and were calculated on the basis of an 8-month (240-day) 
annual growth period, assuming no growth occurred during hibernation. 
Where statistical treatment of data is provided in the text, the mean 
value is followed by±l standard deviation. Statistical comparisons were 
made using the student’s t test (Steel and Torrie 1980). 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
Body size. The ratio of TL/ total length was significantly greater in 
males (x = 0.257 ± 0.002, n = 50) than in females (x = 0.235 ± 0.001, n = 
59, t = 6.2, p < 0.01). However, at maturity females are longer (SVL and 
total length) and heavier than males (Fig. 1). I calculated allometric 
equations separately for each sex in the form of y = ax* 5 , where y = body 
weight (kg), x = SVL (m), and b = a derived constant. These equations 
were 0.47X 3 - 12 and 1.47X 2 - 89 , for males and females, respectively. These 
compare favorably to the equation y = 0.50X 313 derived by Kaufman 
and Gibbons (1975) for combined sexes of N. taxispilota from western 
South Carolina. Semlitsch and Gibbons (1982) suggest that there is 
strong selection in females for increased body size to allow production 
