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COMPLETE records of the breeding habits of snakes are comparatively rare. (See Wood; COPEIA, 2, 1933.) The following report of the mating of a pair of mud snakes, Farancia abacura, with the subsequent egg-laying and hatching of the young seems to be the first case recorded for this species. An attempt to hatch a clutch of eggs of Farancia was reported last year by the writer (COPEIA, 4, 1935) but this was unsuccessful as the only fertile egg was perforated by insects before reaching maturity. The female of the mating pair (not the same one that laid the eggs last year), which was captured in the spring of 1935, measured one inch short of six feet and weighed 4 lbs. 10 oz. at the time of the mating. The male, captured early in June of this year, was much smaller, measuring 42 inches and weighing only 1 lb. 10 oz. These snakes, together with several others of the same species, were housed in an outdoor cage about six feet square in which there was a shallow pool covering about one-half of the cage, the remainder of the area being concrete. All the specimens fed readily on the tailed amphibian (Amphiuma tridactylum) in the manner previously reported (COPEIA, 2, 1934). The mating was first observed about 7 A.M. on July 11. The paired snakes were then in the water but they moved onto the concrete soon afterward where they remained coupled throughout the day. During much of this time the female was in a loose coil with the male in a fairly straight line at right angles to the posterior part of her body. The other snakes in the cage showed no interest in the mating. At 10:30 r.M., the snakes, observed with a flashlight, were again in the water still coupled but the following morning they had separated and no further inclination to mate was noted. There were no courtship activities seen on the days previous to the mating although the occupants of the cage were under frequent observation. The writer was absent on a trip at the time of the egg-laying but preparations had been made to have the data recorded and the eggs taken care of. Thanks are due Mr. Henry G. Gerstner, of Gramercy, for his careful observations as well as for the excellent photographs which he took, one of which accompanies this article. The first egg was laid at about 7 A.M. on September 5, just eight weeks from the date of the mating. The deposition continued intermittently until about 1:30 P.M., when twenty-eight had been laid in all. The eggs were cream-white elongated spheroids, smooth, non-adhesive, regular in size and shape, the diameter varying from 1%' to 15%6 of an inch and length from 158 inches to 1 7 inches. The shells, which were flexible and leathery, were marked with numerous small brown rod-like flecks in groups of two and three and lying parallel to the elongated axis. The photograph shows the snake and eggs just after the last laying. It seemed evident to the observers that an attempt was being made by the snake to keep the eggs within the coils of her body as they were laid but whether this was for the purpose of incubating them or merely to hold them in a close group could not be determined. A heavy rain was threatening and as the floor of the cage was concrete it was feared that the force of the

LONGEVITY OF Lampropeltis triangulum amaura.-Information as to the life span of snakes, especially of the smaller forms, accumulates slowly. Major S. S. Flower has summarized all the records known to him of life span of vertebrate animals in a useful set of papers published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1925-1937). Of the harmless snakes listed, a garter snake was credited with 11 years and a pilot blacksnake with 14 years, these being the longest periods that individuals of these American species were known to have lived. In general 20 to 29 years was the life span of the longest lived large snakes. Pope (1937: 28) points out that the records seem to indicate that pythons live longer than the smaller snakes, but that this may be because the smaller snakes are more easily replaced and hence do not receive the care afforded the larger pythons and boas. However, Pope cites a note by Schumann of a European leopard snake that lived in the Sofia Zoo for 25 years, the longest known life span for any snake. As the leopard snake (Elaphe situla) is seldom more than a yard in length, Pope concludes that a generalization on the relationship between long life span and size of species is unwarranted for snakes. No records are given for the very small species and it is therefore of interest to report on two specimens of Lampropeltis triangulum amaura in my collection, one of which died on July 22, 1944, after 12 years in captivity. The second snake, which has lived for 9 years in the same portable cage (12" x 15" x 12") with the first one, is still in excellent condition. Notes on the life history and habits of these relatively rare "scarlet king snakes" were reported some years ago (COPEIA, 1940: 165). At that time it was stated that from the size of these two snakes when captured (14 inches and 10 inches respectively) and of several others that have been in my possession, it was inferred that the older snake was two years old when captured and the younger, one year old. Based on these conservative assumptions, the snake that died may have been 14 years old and the second is now thought to be 10 years old. Both snakes, as reported previously, are females. The older specimen was 231/2 inches long at time of death, having gained only 212 inches in 5 years. It was quite slender (about one-half inch in diameter) but not emaciated, and had fed regularly on Anolis to the last week. For a year and a half (since March, 1943) this snake had shown no visible tongue motions whatever. When this was first noticed it was believed that death would soon follow but there appeared to be no change in feeding habits or in health and condition up to the end. Especially noticeable was the ease and regularity of moulting, as remarked in the previous article. The gentle, quiet disposition of this snake throughout its long captivity was in direct contrast to that of the surviving cage mate, which is nervous and irritable and resents handling.

and New Orleans has a large reptile population embracing a wide variety of species. A casual study of the snakes of the region was started about ten years ago and from this has developed a sizable backyard collection comprising about 150 specimens each summer, most of which are released or given away as cold weather approaches. Certain miscellaneous observations accumulated during the past several years seem worthy of record. Twenty-one species of snakes have been captured within a radius of 10 miles of Gramercy. Those which are extremely common are: Farancia abacura reinwardtii Natrix erythrogaster transversa Heterodon contortrix Natrix r. rhombifera Lampropeltis getulus holbrookii Natrix sipedon confluens Natrix cyclopion cyclopion Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis