270 ZOOLOGY. 



before them, but such is not the experience of herpctologists, with ■whom the 

 case is exactly reversed ; the snake here being usually the fugitive, and too 

 often escaping by his superior agility, thus also eluding the just claims of 

 science to his body. 



The agility with -which the black snake can climb trees renders it a 

 formidable enemy to young birds and squirrels in their nests. The fabled 

 fascination exerted by the serpent in all probability has reference to the 

 distress occasioned by his vicinity to a bird with a brood of young, the 

 Avhole of which are sometimes devoured at a meal. It is needless to add, 

 after Avhat has alremly been said on the subject, that the black snakes, and 

 all other colubrine snakes of North America, are perfectly harmless. A 

 closely allied black species, called Coluber alle2!-ha)iieiisis, attains to a much 

 larmier size than the Constrictor, individuals of 7 and 8 feet not bein<T very rare. 

 This is much more gentle than the other, rarely manifesting any inclination to 

 bite, which the more common true black snake is very apt to do. The black 

 snakes, as well as some other large colubrine species, often engage in deadly 

 battle with the rattlesnakes, and, strange to say, usually come off victorious, 

 owing to their superior agility, and the quickness wdth which they evade the 

 poison thrusts of their antagonists, and secure an opportunity of squeezing them 

 to death. 



The type of the genus Tropidonotvs is found in the fomiliar garter snake, 

 T. sirtalis, the most abundant species in this country. Like all of its genus, 

 it is frequently found about the water, but as often on high dry land. Its 

 fecundity is very great, as in one instance eighty-one young, of over nine inches 

 in length each, were taken from a single female. The water snake of the 

 Middle States ( T. sipedon) is a species sometimes called moccasin, and wrongly 

 dreaded as venomous, on account of its supposed identity with the species of the 

 lowlands of Georgia. Other species are, T. leberis, dekaj/i, kc. PL SO. Jig: 

 2, represents the European T. notrix. 



We shall conclude this subject by a brief consideration of some other 

 American species with that of an interesting Africaij genus. In addition to 

 the colubrines already enumerated, there is the beautiful Coluber vernalis, or 

 green snake, found rather abundantly in the Northern and more rarely in the 

 Middle States. In the South it is replaced by the beautiful green Leptoplds 

 CBstivKS. A long, slender, exceedingly swift species of the Southern States 

 {Psammophis JiageUiformis) is called the whip snake. The diamond or 

 ring snake, CoroneUa sayi, is conspicuous for its minute white specks 

 scattered all over a black ground. It is one of the species most frequently 

 engaged in successful conflict with the rattlesnake. Elaps fidvus is a 

 beautiful species, variegated with rings of red. black, and yellow, known in 

 its abode, the Southern States, as the harlequin or scarlet snake. It has 

 one large immovable fang on each side of the upper jaw, which is perhaps 

 provided with a rudimentary poison gland, but the animal is considered to 

 be perfectly harmless. A South American species {E. corallinus) of equal 

 beauty and harmlessness, is represented in pi. 90, Jig. 9. The Heterodons 

 have already been referred to under the name of adder or viper. Of two 

 large and common species, H. niger and plafyrhinus, known as black and 

 474 



