08 PROCEEDINGS : BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
a struggle, as the strong springs of the trap had come down vio¬ 
lently just back of the skull. 
5. Storeria occipitomaculata (Storer). Red-bellied Snake. 
Apparently this little snake was not common, though I saw 
several specimens. One was seen basking in the sun on a dry 
board in Pudding Pond bog, but as I approached, it quickly slipped 
away among the grass. Occasionally it is found dead in the 
road, having been run over by passing vehicles as it was sun¬ 
ning itself. Dr. A. S. Packard presented me with a specimen 
found, thus killed, at Intervale. Its colors Avere unusually bright. 
The back was a blue-black instead of the usual olive-brown, and 
the belly a bright red, almost scarlet. 
6. Liopeltis vernalis (DeKay). Grass Snake. 
Of this species I took several specimens, and these always in 
grassy places. It seems to be well distributed and rather common. 
One was found dead in a grassy spot in the woods. Others Avere 
taken at the Pudding Pond bog and on the edge of the intervales. 
At Pudding Pond, I took one from under a board and brought it 
home, Avhere I placed it in a glass bottle, some three inches in 
diameter. On looking at it the next morning, I found it had 
nearly completed casting its skin, and only a couple of inches of 
its tail still remained to be withdrawn. In the Pudding Pond 
swamp I also found a cast skin, eAudently of this species, in a small 
bush, a couple of feet from the ground. It Avas twisted in and 
out among the tAvigs, shoAving that it had been cast as the snake 
Avas climbing about. I have always found this snake very gentle, 
and have never had one offer to bite me. Usually, it seems to 
avoid the bright light, and is often found under stones or boards. 
Tavo, Avhich I kept in captivity for over a month, hid, most of the 
time, under a bunch of grass in their box. 
7. Crotalus horridus Linn. Banded Rattlesnake. 
Although I myself have not met with this species at Intervale, 
one or two are reported every summer from the vicinity. Several 
have been seen or killed on Rattlesnake Ledge, a large rocky mass 
on the southern slope of Mt. Bartlett. An old inhabitant tells me 
that rattlesnakes were’ formerly common on the mountains east and 
south of Intervale. One of the White Mountain guides, Avho has 
spent most of his life among the mountains, tells me, hoAvever, that 
he has never met with a rattlesnake. A specimen killed on Mt. 
Bartlett a couple of years ago Avas examined by Dr. Packard, Avho 
