98 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP 



in the year 1578, and yet has never been seen here except cultivated as a curi- 

 osity in gardens, the seed being always brought from China. It must be con- 

 sidered as a species confined originally to the older continents and not known 

 on this side of the Atlantic, until after the discoveries of Columbus and others. 

 I think that I have seen it growing in a quasi indigenous state on the road sides 

 in Europe. No tobacco has ever been seen growing without cultivation in 

 the United States. This circumstance taking place with most of our cultivated 

 vegetables is a certain proof of their having been imported from some other 

 country. 



As has been observed before, these three species will mix together in every 

 possible degree, hence the great number of species which appear in our books. 

 If we take the trouble to analyse these, it can easily be perceived. that they 

 have been produced by hybrid intermixtures, unless fertile hybrids are to be 

 considered as valid species. All those which resemble the JY. tabaci/m, but 

 with narrower leaves than common, or in any degree possessed of the peculiar 

 characteristics of the iV. fruticosa, have been produced by the mixture with this 

 species, and all those with leaves more or less petiolate, whether lanceolate or 

 ovate, as formed by a combination of TV. tabacum, iV. fruticosa and iV. rustica. 

 It is remarkable what strange appearances these will put on ; every possible 

 variation of the principal forms and every gradation of position will be found, 

 all, however, easily reducible to the three original types. 



Notes on COLTJBEE CALLIGASTER of Say, and a description of new species of 

 Serpents in the collection of the North Western University of Evanston, 111. * 



BY R. KENNICOTT. 



Eut^enia Sackenii Kennicott. 



Sp. ch. Very slender ; tail forming one third of the total length. Crown 

 more elevated and convex anteriorly than in E. saurita. Nineteen dorsal rows 

 of scales. Color olive black above, not lighter below the lateral stripe. La- 

 teral stripe greenish yellow, very narrow on the third and fourth lateral rows. 

 No dorsal stripe. Abdomen uniform greenish. 



In form, this closely resembles E. saurita, but is at once distinguished by the 

 absence of the dorsal stripe, of which there is no trace, except for about a half 

 inch behind the head. The color of the upper parts is also much darker, and 

 the first two rows of scales below the dorsal stripe are not lighter than above 

 it. Florida. Baron Osten Sacken. 



SCOTOPHIS CALLIGASTER. 



Coluber calligaster Say, in Long's Exped. 



Sp. ch. Head very narrow, elongated, much wider behind ; nose very 

 obtuse, the whole outline subquadrangular ; much elevated anteriorly, as 

 high as wide before the eyes, flattened and rather depressed on the occiput. 

 Eye large. Vertical plate narrow, much longer than wide, tapering but little 

 behind. Superciliaries very narrow. Postfrontals and loral large. Twenty- 

 seven dorsal rows of scales, only the central carinated, and these very faintly. 

 Ground color olivaceous white ; a dorsal series of transverse brown blotches 

 separated by narrower intervals than in S. Emoryi, b. & G., with two smaller 

 series on each side. Temporal light stripe, narrower than in S. Emoryi. A 

 brown blotch under the eye, and another on the second and third upper labials. 

 Labials not margined with black. 



This is very closely allied to S. Emoryi, from which it differs in having the 

 head narrower posteriorly, with a more obtuse snout, smaller vertical, narrower 



* Specimens of these species are also in the Museum of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, Washington. 



[March, 



