278 [Oct. 1847. 



A letter was read from Prof. Haldeman, dated Columbia, Oct. 

 16, 1847, calling the attention to a collection of Birds and Rep- 

 tilia for sale at Tampico, Referred to the Curators. 



Mr. Gambel exhibited an albino specimen of the Wood Pewit, 

 (Muscicapa virens) which was obtained in Liberty county, Georgia, 

 by Mr. Win. L. Jones, of that State, and also a specimen of a 

 Woodpecker resembling Picus pubescens, but probably a new 

 species. This last is remarkable in having only three toes, and 

 would therefore more probably belong to the genus Picoides Lacep. 

 {Apternus, Swains.) The feet are slender and delicate, without 

 even a rudiment of a fourth toe ; in other respects it more closely 

 resembles the P. meridionalis, Swains. (P. G-airdnerii, Aud. ) 

 which is also an inhabitant of Georgia. It differs in having the 

 bill more compressed at the base, the tips of the tertiaries -with- 

 out emarginations, the primaries narrower and more pointed, and 

 in the toes being only three in number. 



Meeting for Business, Oct. 26, 1847. 

 Mr. Pearsall in the Chair. 



The committee to whom was referred Dr. Hallowell's paper, 



scribing a ] 

 Proceedings. 



describing a new Coluber, reported in favor of publication in the 



Description of a New S >ecies of Coluber inhabiting the United States, 



By Edward Hallowell, M. D. 



Coluber venustus. 



Characters. Head sm rk slender, color reddish-brown, with a dorsal 



ash-colored band extend "in the occiput to near the extremity of the tail ; 



four narrow bands of red in own color from the neck to the commencement 



of the tail, with two in: iate bands of the same color, but less distinct ; 



an ash-colored, band r< si ag that upon the dorsum, along each side of 



the abdomen ; abdomen * ick-red or copper color; tail short. 



Description. Head sm longated, flattened above, covered with nine 



