COLUBER FASCIATUS. 95 



or southern Virginia for the northern limit of the Coluber fasciatus; beyond that 

 its place is supplied by the Coluber sipedon. How far south and west it may 

 reach cannot be stated with certainty; I have received it from Louisiana, and all 

 the intermediate states. 



General Remarks. There is, in my opinion, no doubt that this is the animal 

 sent by Dr. Garden to Linnaeus, and by him described as the Coluber fasciatus, 

 as the general colouring, the particular marks, its habitat, and the carinated scales, 

 all go to prove. Linnaeus himself seems to have hesitated to which of Catesby's 

 animals he should refer the one sent by Dr. Garden, for he quotes the wampum 

 snake with doubt, which it cannot be, as in this the scales are carinated, and in 

 that, which is probably the Coluber abacurus of the first volume of this work, 

 they are smooth; yet in this reference he has been almost universally followed by 

 naturalists. My belief is, that he should have referred it to the brown viper of 

 Catesby,* which was probably drawn from a specimen imperfectly coloured; for 

 not unfrequently the old Coluber fasciatus, before it has shed its skin, resembles 

 nearly Catesby's plate, with the exception of the fangs. Another reason for 

 believing that the animals are identical is, that after twelve years' search, both in 

 Carolina and in Virginia, where he represents the brown viper as abounding, 

 under the name truncheon snake, I have never seen any animal bearing the least 

 resemblance to Catesby's figure, except the Coluber fasciatus; and my friend 

 Professor Geddings, who, during a residence of some years in the lower districts 

 of Carolina, where he observed these animals closely, is of the same opinion. 

 The fangs of Catesby's figure, and the "bite venomous as any" of his description, 

 must go for nothing; for he saw the same thing and figured similar fangs for the 

 black viper, where they never exist, and which is now known to be a harmless 

 animal. If this opinion be correct, and the animals are identical, and of that I 

 have little doubt, then the brown viper must be stricken from the list of serpents, 

 and its synonymes transferred to the Coluber fasciatus, as the Coluber tisiphone, 

 Scytalus tisiphone, &c. &c. 



* Catesby's Carolina, &c, vol. ii. pi. xlv. 



