334 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



at the latest advices was doing well. Great care was taken 

 to prevent any disturbance of the parent on the part of spec- 

 tators, and the young animal now sucks its mother freely, 

 and there is a fair prospect of its being successfully reared. 

 19 A, November 9, 1872, 453. 



ENUMERATION OF AMERICAN SERPENTS. 



In 1842 a great work upon North American reptiles was 

 published by Dr. Holbrook, of Charleston, filling five quarto 

 volumes, and occupying the same rank in herpetology as the 

 publications of Audubon in mammalogy and ornithology. 

 The learned author was quite well satisfied that nearly all 

 the American reptiles were embraced in his work, and that 

 the labor of future specialists in this department would be 

 mainly confined to determining their geographical distribu- 

 tion. Of serpents he enumerated 16 genera and 47 species ; 

 of lizards, 10 genera and 14 species; of turtles, 6 genera and 24 

 species ; and of amphibia, 13 genera and 56 species or a total 

 of 45 genera and 141 species. 



In 1853 the Smithsonian Institution published a work pre- 

 pared by Professor Baird and his associate, Charles Girard, on 

 the North American serpents in the museum of the Smithso- 

 nian Institution, in which 35 genera and 119 species are de- 

 scribed. Some of these proved to be geographical races, or 

 varieties of other more definite forms ; but the greater num- 

 ber of the species indicated as new hold their place in the 

 systems, and the memoir is still an approved manual of the 

 subject. Since that time additional species have been pub- 

 lished (principally by Professor Cope), and at present the enu- 

 meration of our serpents stands at 45 genera and 176 species 

 (of which 5 genera and 22 species are venomous), all belong- 

 ing to the United States, and occurring north of its southern 

 boundary, being 35 species more than the aggregate of all 

 the reptiles and amphibians given by Holbrook. 



NOCTILUCINE. 



A communication from Mr. Phipson appears in the Comptes 

 He?idtts, upon what he calls noctilucine, and which he claims 

 to be a hitherto undistinguished organic substance, widely 

 distributed in nature, and which constitutes the phosphores- 

 cent matter of animals, living or dead. This is not only the 



