24 LEPTOPHIS SAURITUS. 



from our animal, according to Say, "in the numerical proportion that its sub- 

 caudal scales bear to its abdominal plates;" which is not sufficient of itself to 

 distinguish animals so closely allied. 



General Remarks. The first account of this serpent may be seen in Catesby's 

 History of Carolina, &c.; where it is figured and described under the name of 

 Riband Snake; which it bears to the present time with us among all classes of 

 people. Linnaeus received it into the twelfth edition of the Systema Natura?, and 

 applied to it the specific name saurita, which has been universally adopted by 

 naturalists; nor can there be a doubt of his meaning, for his only references are 

 to Catesby and to Dr. Garden: although the number of sub-caudal scales he gives 

 does not agree with my observations, yet this might have been the result of 

 accident in the specimen that he examined. 



