| other nests | | | July 5 | August | | combined | .... | Yes | and 6 | 30 | Maryland | | | | | | Noble and | 2, 5, 5, | | | May 23, 27, | July 5, | Anderson Mason | 6, 7, 8, 8 | .... | No | 31; June 6, | 5, 6, 7, | Co., | | | | 6, 13, 20 | 9, 17 | Kansas | | | | | | Ruthven | 6, 6, 8, 9, | | | | | | 11, 13, 14 | .... | Yes | .... | .... | Michigan | | | | | | Smith | 9 | .... | Yes | .... | .... | Ohio ----------+--------------+---------------+---------+-------------+----------+------------- BROODING Lizards and snakes of several different families, are known to brood their clutches of eggs, although the great majority of oviparous forms do not do so. The brooding habit is perhaps best known in _Eumeces fasciatus_, and has been described by many authors. By far the most thorough account is that of Noble and Mason (1933) who observed and experimented upon seven females that laid clutches of eggs in captivity. These females, kept in separate terraria, excavated nest burrows for reception of their clutches, and remained with them throughout the time of incubation. There were three characteristic brooding postures; curved in a semicircle around the clutch, in an S-shaped figure extending among them, or lying straight, either over or among the eggs. The brooding females, taken quietly from their nests without disturbing them, were found to have temperatures averaging .4°C. higher than the nests. Evidently normal room temperatures were maintained in the laboratory where the terraria were kept. The females occasionally left their nests, especially in late afternoon, to wander about the terraria, and to bask in sunlight. While basking, their temperatures averaged 2.7°C. higher than the nest temperatures. The authors suggested that an important function of the brooding female was to transfer warmth from absorbed sunlight to the eggs. They state: "In nature the importance of the mother's body heat in the incubation of the eggs probably varies greatly with the type of nesting site selected." They suggest that in clutches deposited in logs or stumps beneath a thin layer of bark exposed to direct sunlight the need for warming by the female would be less.