COLUBERSAYI. 69 



General Remarks. Dr. Dekay was the first herpetologist who noticed it as 

 a distinct species, and communicated his observations to Say and other natu- 

 rahsts, who regarded it only as a variety of the Cohiber getulus, to which it 

 certainly bears a striking general resemblance; yet on minute examination there 

 will be found sufficient difference to constitute them distinct species. The head 

 of this is smaller, with the snout much more prolonged than in the Coluber 

 getulus; the colours are differently disposed; the body is shorter and the tail 

 longer in proportion; and their geographical distribution is widely different: the 

 Coluber getulus being found seven or eight hundred miles farther north on the 

 Atlantic states than the Coluber Sayi; whereas, if they were but varieties, we 

 might expect to find both animals in the same localities. 



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