FAMILY COLUBERID.E. 47 



man and acute observer, who captured it as it was swimming across a large bay on the northern 

 coast of Long Island. It has been noticed in Massachusetts, Michigan and Louisiana. 



(EXTRALIMITAL.) 



T. ordinatus. (Holbrook, Vol. 4, pi. 12.) Five series of small, alternate, subquadrate, dark spots 

 on the sides. Scales carinate. Abdominal plates, 143 ; caudal, 66. Length 2 - 3 feet. Mary- 

 land and South. 



T. erythrogaster. (Id. Vol. 4, pi. 7.) Brick-dust color, tinged with green at the sides; beneath copper- 

 colored. Abdominal plates, 147; caudal, 60. Length 3 - 4 feet. Carolina. 



T. niger. (Id. Vol. 4, pi. 9.) Elongated. Dusky brown, almost black; throat and neck milky 

 white ; beneath, slate. Abdominal plates, 143; caudal, 64. Length 2 - 3 feet. Found in Massa- 

 chusetts and Maine, and probably in New-York. 



T. rigidus. (Id. Vol. 4, pi. 10.) Brown ; beneath brownish yellow. Two contiguous series of oblong 

 dark spots on the centre of the abdomen. Abdominal plates, 133 ; caudal, 51. Peimsylvania. 



T.fasciatus. (Id. Vol. 4, pi. 5.) Carinate. Body robust ; brownish above, with about thirty oblong 

 red marks on the flanks. Abdominal plates, 140; caudal, 42. Length 2£ feet. Carolina, Loui- 

 siana. 



T. taxispilotus. (Id. Vol. 4, pi. 8.) Carinate. Body robust; above light chocolate, with a triple 

 series of subquadrate and oblong black spots. Abdominal plates, 1 44 ; Caudal, 79. Length three 

 feet. South Carolina, Georgia. 



GENUS LEPTOPHIS. Bell. 



Head much elongated, suboval, narrow, covered with plates as in Coluber. Loral plate sin- 

 gle ; one anterior and two posterior orbital plates. Body long and very slender, covered 

 with sub-hexagonal carinate scales. Tail very long. 



Obs. Hitherto, but two species have been observed in the United States. They are 

 remarkable for their extreme activity. 



THE RIBBON SNAKE. 



LEPTOPHIS SATJR1TA. 



PLATE XI. FIG. 24. — (STATE COLLECTION.) 



Coluber saurila. Lin. Gmel. Catesby, Vol. 2, p. 50. pi. 50. 



Le Saurite. Lacepede, Hist. Nat. des Serpens, Vol. 2, p. 101. Daudin, Vol. 7, p. 104, pi. 81, fig. 2. 

 Anguis eryx. Williams, Nat. Hist. Vermont. 

 A. saurita. Haelan, Med. and Phys. Res. p. 115. 



The Riband Snake. Storer, Mass. Rep. p. 229. Holbrook, N. A. Herpetology, Vol. 4, p. 21, pi. 4 ; and Vol. 4, p. 

 21, pi. 4, of 2d Ed. 



Characteristics. Body slender. Tail filiform, nearly half the length of the body. Chocolate- 

 brown, with three yellowish stripes. Length one to two feet. 



