In a clutch of eggs beginning to hatch on September 3, 1958, dimensions and weights were as follows: length 31.8 (36-30), diameter 22.0 (24-21), weight 9.7 (10.3-9.3). Gravid females that were kept in captivity in anticipation of their laying usually produced their clutches within a few days. The laying dates of such individuals are shown in the following list. Those with asterisks were from the Harvey County study area, others were from the Reservation and Rockefeller Tract. June 19, 1961 July 1, 1961 July 12, 1961 June 21, 1959 July 4-5, 1962* July 15, 1961* June 23, 1961* July 6, 1955 July 18, 1961* June 26, 1959 July 7, 1959* July 20, 1961 June 29-30, 1962* July 7, 1959* August 8, 1960* A further indication of the period when laying occurs was provided by the appearance of females gravid and progressively more swollen with eggs, then their abrupt disappearance and replacement by thin and wrinkled individuals that obviously were recently parturient. The following records show the course of these events on the Reservation in the years when summer trapping was done with sufficient consistency. These dates provide a rough approximation of the time when laying occurs locally. They indicate a laying season concentrated in a period of approximately three weeks in this locality. Records from published literature also indicate that laying occurs in late June and early July at the latitude of Kansas, but somewhat earlier in the southern United States. Table 8. Dates When Parturient and Gravid Racers were Captured on Reservation and Rockefeller Tract in Several Years, Indicating Time of Oviposition ========================+=========+=========+=========+=========+======== Year | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 ------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+-------- First parturient female | June 18 | June 17 | June 22 | June 20 | June 13 Last gravid female | July 8 | July 11 | July 5 | July 12 | July 16 ------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+-------- Many authors have made statements regarding the size of the clutch in the racer, on the basis of those found in the field, those laid after capture, or those dissected from gravid females. Some of the statements were based upon small but unspecified samples, and are far from the mark. From records accumulated in the course of my own field work, and a summarization of those in published accounts a substantial sample is available showing the usual size of clutch in the area of my study, and the trends of geographic variation in some parts of the range.