REPTILIA. 343 



Lachesis lanceolatus (LACEpfeDE). 

 LAc£pi!DE, Hist. nat. quad. ovip. et serpens., 1789, 2, p. 98, 119, pi. 4, fig. 1. 



There has long been question as to the real distribution and occurrence of 

 the " Fer-de-Lance " in the West Indies. It is probably at present confined to 

 the islands of Martinique and St. Lucia. Labat, in his Nouveau voyage aux 

 Isles de I'Amerique (La Haye, 1722, 1, p. 429) makes it quite clear that he knew 

 this snake well. He says, after remarking on the venomous character of a 

 snake which he killed in his hen-roost one morning: — "Pour peu qu'on soit fait 

 au pays on distingue aisement la couleuvre d'avec le serpent, parce que la cou- 

 leuvre a la tete longue et ronde comine une aiguille, & que le .serpent I'a plate, 

 & presque triangular." This quotation, showing that the good Father was 

 quite sound in his identification, was followed later in his narrative (4, p. 105) 

 by the following interesting statement : — ' ' On n'en voit (des serpents \'iperes) 

 dans toutes les Antilles qu'a la Martinique, Sainte Alonsie ou Lucie & a Bequia, 

 qui est un des Grenadins, qu'on appelle a cause de cela, la petite Martinique .... 

 On ne voit dans les autres Isles que des couleuvres qui ne sont point venimeuses, 

 & qui meme sont utiles, en ce qu'elles font la guerre aux rats. Eiles [sic] sont 

 rares a la Guadeloupe, et meme fort petites." In connection with these quota- 

 tions, we may well observe also what Symington Grieve says in his Notes upon 

 the island of Dominica (London, 1906, p. 63-64) : — "Of snakes there are at least 

 three kinds, one of which — the tetche — grows to a large size ; and I was told 

 of specimens of from fourteen to twenty feet in length. But the usual size, of 

 which I saw several, and killed one, was about six or seven feet. The other two 

 varieties I saw were quite small, and none of the snakes on Dominica are believed 

 to be poisonous." So much then for the occurrence of this extremely well-known 

 and conspicuous species upon Guadeloupe and Dominica. Yet Boulenger 

 (loc. cit.) in his Catalogue records specimens in the British museum from both 

 these islands. Were they Uke so many other specimens recorded from this 

 region, caught upon one island, but shipped to the Museum from another? As 

 for the occurrence in the Grenadines which Labat mentions, it can only be said 

 that the species does not apparently exist there now ; while the names of Bequia 

 and Petit Martinique are used for two different islands. 



Regarding the identity of the West Indian Fer-de-Lance with that of the 

 mainland, the characters which Garman gives for liis L. caribbaeus (Garman) 

 from St. Lucia do not seem distinctive. Yet there can be no possible doubt but 

 that St. Lucia specimens (Types No. 4,812, M. C. Z., and in British museum) 

 range lower in scale rows — twenty-five to twenty-seven rows in five specimens — 



