ALLEN: REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS OF INTERVALE, N. II. (37 
The first row of scales is blackish olive to dark olive, this color 
extending over the ends of the gastrosteges. A more or less per¬ 
fect row of gastrostegal spots is present, and, as in pallidula , the 
spot is frequently continuous with a black border which runs along 
the anterior margin of the end of the scute, and extends up between 
the scales of the first, or first and second rows. Specimens are 
occasionally found which are of a browner shade than those just 
described. In these there is a tendency to more or less redness in 
the spots, and the spots are plainer. Some very young specimens 
are lighter than described above, though generally there is but 
little difference in color between old and young;. 
Thamnophis sirtalis pallidula needs comparison with no other 
of the sirtalis group except T. sirtalis proper, from which it differs 
in the obscurity of the dorsal stripe, which is grayish, not yellow; 
the ground color, which is olive-brown, not black or blackish; in 
the chestnut color below the lateral stripe, where sirtalis is olive ; 
in the lighter color of the belly, especially in the younger examples; 
and in the interlinear spots as previously described. The young of 
pallidula are even paler than adults and are easily distinguished 
from those of sirtalis proper by the gray belly and dorsal stripe, 
pale olive ground color above, and the pale lateral stripes, as well 
as by the interlinear spots. 
The Northern Garter snake is abundant at Intervale, where I 
captured a large number. I have also taken it at Caribou, northern 
Maine, and Mr. W. A. Hickman informs me that he has taken it 
at Pictou, Nova Scotia. It is apparently characteristic of the 
eastern Canadian zone and is usually found in or near woods. At 
a short distance, the general coloring of the dorsal surface resem¬ 
bles the color of the pine needles and dead beech leaves of its 
forest home. Tlii^ snake feeds largely on wood frogs ( Rana syl- 
vatica) and toads ( JBufo americanus) , which abound in the damp 
woods. On several occasions, after having captured these snakes, 
I have known them to disgorge frogs which had recently been 
swallowed. 
4. Nateix fasciata sipedon (Linn.). Water Snake. 
This species I found only in the bog of rank grass and sphagnum 
around Pudding Pond. I caught one large specimen in a “ Cy¬ 
clone ” mouse trap set in a Microtus runway. The snake had 
evidently been following the runway, and in attempting to pass 
through the trap, had sprung it. It had died, apparently without 
