CKOCODILIANS, LIZARDS, AND SNAKES. 827 



were referred to genera distinct from Coluber, and of these genera three 

 were newly established. These three are Bascanium Baird and Girard, 

 Dromicus Bibron, and Haldea Baird and Girard. Now Dumeril, who 

 published tlie prodromons of his classification of the serpents in 1853, 

 expressly retains the name Coluber for the C. constrictor of Linnceus, 

 type of Bascanium. But as the C. constrictor is not included in the 

 Oppelian genus Coluber of 1811, it can not be considered here at all. 



Shortly after the appearance of the work of Fitzinger, Boie furnished 

 a synopsis of his systematic work on reptiles.^ He gives a list of 

 thirty-five species of the genus (7oZ?*6er, of which only six are Linniean. 

 Of these but three apj)ear in the list from Fitzinger, given above. 

 These are G. cyaneus, G. hippocrepis, and G. constrictor, thus restricting 

 the n;ime to the G. constrictor. 



Soon after, however, Boie gave a list of the genera of snakes, with a 

 typical species for each.^ Here he cites the C. elaphis {Elaphisquater- 

 radiatus Gmelin, Dumeril and Bibron) of Europe as the type, and adds 

 "u. V. a," meaning, tind viel a^idere — species belonging to the genus. 

 What these other species are may be derived from a j)erusal of a pre- 

 vious paper by Boie,^ where he describes three closely allied species 

 from Japan, the whole belonging to the genus Elaphis of Dumeril and 

 Bibron, and one of them [Coluber conspicillatus) being a member of the 

 genus Coluber of Giinther. Dr. Giinther has regarded this reference 

 as an indication of the meaning of Boie in his use of the name Coluber, 

 and this determination must stand on the ground of previous determi- 

 nation by Oppel. 



The North American species are of inoffensive habits, but are 

 destructive to birds and mammals. Some of them reach considerable 

 dimensions, but they are exceeded in this respect by some of the species 

 of the allied genus Spilotes. The C. guttatus and G. rosaceus are of 

 brilliant colors. 



The Xorth American species are closely allied, and form gradations 

 of characters which must be carefully estimated in order to learn the 

 definitions. It is not difiicult to distinguish the C. vulpinus, C. guttatus, 

 and C. emoryi, but the group of which the C. spiloides is the type is 

 more difiicult to unravel. It embraces that species, G. confinis, C. quad- 

 rivittatus, G. obsoletus, C.frcnatus, and C. Icetus. All the North Ameri- 

 can species (except i)ossibly C. confinis, of which but one specimen is 

 known) have twenty-seven rows of scales, some species (0. vuljnnus) 

 varying to twenty-five, and others (C emoryi) varying to twenty-nine. 

 The most important characters are the number of rows of scales which 

 are keeled, and the length of the tail, as indicated by the number of 

 urosteges. The coloration has a typical value, but displays many 

 transitions, especially in the spiloides group. 



' Bulletiu des Sciences Naturelles, edited by F6ru8sac, IX, 1826, p. L'oT. 

 = 1818 von Okeu, 1827, p. 982. 

 3 Idem, p. 209. 



