100 HETERODON PLATIRHINOS. 



Troost* is only a variety of this, for it is not uncommon to see individuals more 

 or less annulated. 



General Remarks. There can be no doubt that this is the Heterodon plati- 

 rhinos of Latreille, from his description, as well as from the geographical distri- 

 bution given it. This species of Heterodon is found in New Jersey, where Palisot 

 de Beauvais first observed it, and from which state the animal here described was 

 also received. It seems to me very clear that we have three species of Heterodon 

 in the Atlantic states — Heterodon platirhinos, Heterodon niger, both described in 

 this volume, and the Heterodon limus of Linnaeus, which differs in several respects 

 from the platirhinos; as in size, in having the neck smaller, in colour and markings, 

 in the form of the rostral plate, and in having the azygous plate between the 

 anterior frontal plates surrounded with small scales; as well as in being confined 

 to the southern and western states.t It is one of the most common reptiles on 

 the sea coast of Carolina and Georgia, abounding in the cotton fields of the sea 

 islands. 



* Ann. Lye. N. Y., vol. iii. p. 188. 



t It seems to me highly probable that the Heterodon tigrinus of Troost is the Heterodon 

 simus, but of this I cannot speak positively, having never yet seen his animal, and must leave 

 it to be determined in a future volume. 



