LITTLE BROWN SNAKE. 697 
Habitat, Canada, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana ; north to Ohio and Michigan, 
and west to the plains. 
The Ring-necked Snake is occasionally found in Ohio, but it is rare. 
It occurs under stones, but more commonly under the bark of decayed 
trees, and, like the Eutainiz, when handled, emits a strong and dis- 
agreeable odor. 
Var. amabilis, Baird and Girard, may be distinguished from the above 
by having the eye over the third and fourth |xbials, the abdomen crowded 
with black spots, and a narrow occipital ring. It ranges from California 
to Texas and eastward as far as our limits, being occasionally found in 
Ohio. 
GENUS STORERIA. Baird and Girard. 
Body small; head rather short, easily separable from the neck; teeth smooth and 
equal ; cephalic region covered with plates; loral absent, rarely present ; postfrontals and 
prefronials each a pair; nasals two ; anteorbitals one or two; postorbitals two ; occipitals 
large; labials and inframaxillaries ot good size; rostral rather small; dorsal scales in 
15-17 rows, carinated ; gastrosteges, 120-140; urosteges, 40-55; anal plate bifid ; ovovi- 
viparous, 
Anteorbitals one; dorsal scales in 17 rows. : : : ; S. DEKAYI. 
Anteorbitals two; dorsal scales in 15 rows. . 6 .  §. OCCIPITO-MACULATA. 
STORERIA DEKAYI Holbrook. 
Little Brown Smake. 
Coluber dekayi, HOLBROOK. 
Coluber ordinatus, LINNZUS, STORER. 
Tropidonotus dekayi, HOLBROOK, DeKay. 
Storeria dekayi, BAIRD and GIRARD, COPE, JORDAN. 
Ischnognathus dekayi, DUMERIL and BIBRON, GUNTHER. 
General color above grayish-brown, with a somewhat lighter vertebral band margined 
by dotted lines; a black bar extending from the occipitals to the angle of the mouth; 
two black spots below the eye; abdomen and under parts greenish to grayish white; 
vertical plate broad, sub-pentagonal, shorter than commissural line of occipitals; ante- 
orbitals one ; upper and lower labials each seven on a side; inframaxillaries reaching to 
sixth lower labial; eye small, above the fourth upper labial; dorsal scales in 17 rows ; 
gastrosteges, 120-150; urosteges, 40-60. Length, 1 foot; head, 54 lines; tail, 24 inches; 
transverse diameter of head, 3 lines; of neck, 2lines; circumference of body 2# inches. 
Habitat, Maine, Massachasetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, South Carolina, 
Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan. 
In the State the Little Brown Snake occurs at Cleveland and in north- 
western and central Ohio, and probably is met with occasionally in all 
parts. Itisan aquatic little animal, feeding upon insects, and perfectly 
