G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 255 



Kansas, presented to the Academy of the American Philo- 

 sophical Society of Philadelphia, he shows that America is 

 the home of this group, four species only having been de- 

 scribed from Europe. Forty-two North American species 

 are already known, of which fifteen belong to the greensand 

 formation of New Jersey, seven to the limestone region of 

 Alabama, seventeen to the chalk of Kansas, and three to oth- 

 er localities. Of the Kansas species, six are described as new 

 by Professor Cope in the paper referred to. 2 D, MSS.,Zte- 

 cember 15, 1871. 



FIGHT BETWEEN A COBRA AND A MONGOOSE. 



A correspondent in Nature gives an account of a fight be- 

 tween a cobra di capello and a mongoose, the latter a small 

 mammal well known for its services in destroying the poison- 

 ous serpents of India. The writer states that the mongoose 

 was bitten by the cobra in the course of the fight, but that 

 the latter was ultimately killed, and its destroyer went into 

 the jungle for a time, as though in search of some remedy, 

 and came back in a few hours after the fight apparently 

 quite well. 12 A, January 11, 1872, 204. 



ANTAGONISM OF HARMLESS SERPENTS TO POISONOUS ONES. 



It appears to be a w r ell-establishe'd fact that certain harm- 

 less serpents, like the black snake and some other species 

 that kill their prey by compression, take an especial delight 

 in destroying the rattlesnake, in this way serving a very use- 

 ful purpose in the economy of 'nature by antagonizing and 

 restraining the increase of such noxious reptiles. Authentic 

 instances in regard to the black snake {Coluber constrictor} 

 are on record ; while the species known as chain snake, or 

 ring snake, in the Southern States (of the genus Ophibolus), 

 is carefully protected from destruction on account of a like 

 habit. 



"We now learn that a similar habit belongs to a California 

 species, called ring snake {Pityophis cotenifer), a case being 

 lately recorded in which one of these snakes is described as 

 having attacked a rattlesnake by creeping stealthily toward 

 him until within a few feet, and then, by a sudden spring, 

 leaping upon and coiling around his antagonist, crushing him 

 to death in his coils. 



