PSAMMOPHIS FLAGELLIFORMIS. 15 



Foreign naturalists have all been deceived in supposing the application of 

 the term of Coach-Avhip Snake to be much more extended than it really is. 

 Thus Schlegel says that it is applied, without distinction, to several long and 

 slender snakes, which is certainly not the case, for no term is more restricted 

 among our common names of serpents, not even the Black Snake, and has 

 been in common and universal use since the time of Catesby. It is not called 

 Coach-whip Snake from the extreme tenuity of its body, but from the form of the 

 tail, and the manner in which the scales upon it are arranged; these are very 

 large, rhomboidal, slightly imbricated, so as to appear only juxta-posed, which 

 give it precisely the appearance of a whip-cord, and from this is the common 

 name derived. 



We have other serpents equally attenuated as the Black Snake, but that is 

 called a Racer, or the Leptophis sestivus, and that is called Green Snake. 



It seems, then, that the Coluber flagelliformis has not been described, or even 

 referred to properly, by any systematic writer on natural history, except Shaw; 

 and even his name must yield in priority to that of Catesby. 



