242 ON TUE GEOGKAt'IllCAL 



CoraiSjHerpetodryas Boddaertii, Deiidropliis aurata, Dryio- 

 phis Catesbyi, and D. argentca, llonialopsis plicatilis, Elaps 

 lemniscatus, and E. Surinamensis, &c., which have been 

 observed m the Guyanas, where the following natives of 

 Brazil are wholly wanting : Calaniaria Bluniii, Coronella 

 Merremii, Xenodon Schotii, and X. rhinostonia, Lycodon 

 formosus, Herpetodryas serra, Homalopsis carinicauda, and 

 H. Martii, &:c. Others appear to be represented in those 

 two points of Sonth America, so that we may place the 

 Coronella vcnustissima, Dipsas Mikani, D. Wiegeli, D. 

 leiicocephala, and D. Nattereri, with the Trigonocephalus 

 Jacaraca, all of Brazil, in ])arallels with the Coronella ve- 

 nusta, Dipsas nebulata, D. Catesbyi, D. macrorhina, D. 

 punctatissima, and tlie Trigonoceplialus atrox of the Guy- 

 anas. The other parts of Soiitli America are too little 

 known to enable us to establish a comparison between the 

 reptiles of the different countries of that continent ; it is 

 however, proper to remark, that there have been discovered 

 in Chile several new serpents, which do not appear to exist 

 on tlie other side of the Cordilleras. 



I must conclude this review of the geogi'aphical distri- 

 bution of serpents, fearing that I have already abused the 

 patience of the reader, by entering into details which I 

 might have here omitted, and wiiich I purpose to treat of 

 more at large in another work, which has occupied me for 

 a long time past. 



In conclusion, I regret not to be able to add, as a sequel 

 to this book, some observations on Fossil Serpents. To 

 this time we have not discovered more than the remains of 

 a very small number ;* and these remains, confined almost 

 wholly to a few vertebrae, often accompanied by ribs, or 

 at most to some isolated fragments of the cranium, are 

 too incomplete to serve for the exact determination of the 

 genera, or the families to which these beings have pertained. 

 The few observations made on fossil serpents appear, in- 



* Consult the labours of Morken ; also of Cuvier, Ossem. Fossil., iv, 

 p. ISO, and v. p. 2, p. 16S ; Guldiuss, Nova Acta, x\, p. 1, pi. 3, fig. 8. 

 &c. 



