. The Canadian field-naturalist. 420 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. 90 residue such as fur, feathers, claws, or bone to suggest that these items were ingested by another animal that subsequently fell victim to the snake. The stomach of a specimen (UAMZ 68) from Empress contained a grasshopper femur and the collapsed shell of an unidentified egg that measured approximately lOX 18 mm. A com- plete beetle and portions of ants were found in the stomach of another specimen (UAMZ 517) but these were probably eaten by a Plains Spadefoot Toad, Scaphiopus bombifrons, the remains of which were also
. The Canadian field-naturalist. 420 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. 90 residue such as fur, feathers, claws, or bone to suggest that these items were ingested by another animal that subsequently fell victim to the snake. The stomach of a specimen (UAMZ 68) from Empress contained a grasshopper femur and the collapsed shell of an unidentified egg that measured approximately lOX 18 mm. A com- plete beetle and portions of ants were found in the stomach of another specimen (UAMZ 517) but these were probably eaten by a Plains Spadefoot Toad, Scaphiopus bombifrons, the remains of which were also found in the stomach. Variability In color, pattern, and squamation the speci- mens of H. n. nasicus from Alberta show just as much variation as representatives from other parts of the range. Descriptions have previously been given by Wright and Wright (1957), Conant (1958), Stebbins (1966), and Piatt (1969). Eleven of the 13 specimens examined have been kept in various preservatives for different periods of time so that comparisons on the basis of color are semi-qualitative at best. Neverthe- less, it is apparent that the ground color of the Alberta specimens ranges from pale to medium shades of brown with blotches of somewhat darker brown. The blotches can be well defined (Figures 2a and 2b) or poorly defined (Figures 2c and 2d). The vertebral blotches are 2-2'/2 scales long and generally involve nine scale rows. The interblotch space is 1-2 scales in length. Verte- bral body blotches average in females. Figure 2. Variation in the Western Hognose Snake from Alberta: a, very defined dorsal and lateral blotches—UAMZ 267; b, dorsal blotches well defined but tend to merge with the spots on the lateral surfaces—PM A ; c, lateral blotches poorly defined, dorsal interblotch spaces made very apparent by dark pigmentation—PMAA ; d, a relative pale specimen—UAMZ Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been
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