harvestmen, moths, ants, snails, worms, and slugs. While hunting, it uses both chemical and visual clues to find prey, and kills with a strike instead of constriction. Reproduction Sexually mature smooth green snakes mate in the late spring or summer, and gravid females lay eggs from June to September. Usually, two clutches are laid, each containing four to six eggs. Females usually lay their eggs in rodent burrows, mounds of rotting vegetation, sawdust piles, or rotting logs. In the northern habitats of this species, communal nesting has been observed. Smooth green snake eggs are white and oval; they have thin shells and are about one inch in length. They have an average mass of 2.6 grams. The eggs hatch four to 23 days after being laid. References Bibliography Further reading Behler, J.L.; King, F.W. (1979). The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 743 pp. . (Opheodrys vernalis, pp. 640–641 + Plates 475, 476). Boulenger, G.A. (1894). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xi + 382 pp. + Plates I-XX. (Contia vernalis, pp. 258–259). Conant, R.; Bridges, W. (1939). What Snake Is That?: A Field Guide to the Snakes of the United States East of the Rocky Mountains. (With 108 drawings by Edmond Malnate). New York and London: D. Appleton-Century. Frontispiece map + viii + 163 pp. + Plates A-C, 1-32. (Opheodrys vernalis, pp. 43–44 + Plate 5, figure 14). Harlan, R. (1827). "Genera of North American REPTILIA, and synopsis of the species". J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 5: 317–372. (Coluber vernalis, new species, p. 361). McCoy, C.J. (1980). Identification Guide to Pennsylvania Snakes. (Design and illustrations by Michael Antonoplos). Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 12 pp. (Opheodrys vernalis, pp. 4–5). Morris, P.A. (1948). Boy's Book of Snakes: How to Recognize and Understand Them. A volume of the Humanizing Science Series, edited by Jacques Cattell. New York: Ronald Press. viii + 185 pp. (Opheodrys vernalis, pp. 50–51, 179). Netting, M.G.; Richmond, N.D. (editors) (1970). Pennsylvania Reptiles and Amphibians. Third Edition, Fifth Printing. (Photographs by Hal H. Harrison). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Fish Commission. 24 pp. (Opheodrys vernalis, p. 2). Powell, R.; Conant, R.; Collins, J.T. (2016). Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and