COLUBER MELANOLEUCUS. 73 



circumference, 6 inches. They however reach a greater size: I have seen one 

 9 feet in length. In the specimen here described there were 216 abdominal 

 plates and 60 subcaudal scales. 



Habits. The Coluber melanoleucus inhabits the pine forests along the sea 

 coast, but I believe is not found far in the interior of the Atlantic states, though 

 I have heard of its existence west of the Alleghanies. It feeds on rabbits, 

 squirrels, birds, &.c., and is timid and "inoffensive with respect to mankind;" 

 though a large animal, it moves with great celerity, and is taken alive with 

 much difficulty, as they frequently have large holes in the earth, to which they 

 precipitately retreat when danger is apprehended. Bartram says, in the season 

 of ''incubation,'" it makes "a terrible hiss, resembling distant thunder;" which I 

 have never heard, though I am well acquainted with the animal. 



Geographical Distribution. This serpent abounds in the pine forests of New 

 Jersey; though Daudin says Pallisot de Beauvais never saw it in Pennsylvania; 

 where it is, however, common enough. From Jersey, which seems to be its 

 northern limit, it passes through Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and 

 Florida, always preferring the same pine districts, from which circumstance its 

 common name is derived. How far south-west it may reach, I cannot say, but 

 it certainly has been observed in some of the states beyond the Mississippi river. 



General Remarks. A good deal of doubt has arisen as to the propriety of 

 continuing the name melanoleucus of Daudin, as his description is copied from 

 Bartram, and is thought to be too short and imperfect to characterize any animal 

 with certainty: hence some have proposed to erase it altogether from our cata- 

 logue of reptiles; yet it seems to me that, by proper investigation, it can be made 

 clear to what animal he applied the epithet melanoleucus, and thus the name 

 retained. Bartram travelled in Carolina and Florida, where he saw a large 

 snake, — "perhaps the largest in North America," — "pied black and white," — and 

 "called Pine Snake or Bull Snake;" all this agrees perfectly well with the animal 

 now under consideration, and with no other. 

 Vol. IV.— 10 



