80 



Wheatlaud to Mr. Robert Ridgway, of the National Museum. It has also 

 been taken in Illinois just across the Wabash River from Indiana. I have 

 seen it at Little Rock, Arkansas, in a cypress swamp. Holbrook says of 

 this species that it is rare and shy, and that it lives in swampy ground 

 and in damp places. It is a beautiful snake, as beauty goes among 

 snakes. 



Genus VIRGINIA, B. & G. 



Virginia, Baird & Girard, 1853, 6, 127; Garman, 1883, 13, 96, in 

 part. 



Small, slender, and feeble snakes, with small head and short tail. 

 Head narrow, rather high, snout pointed. Crown-shields 9. Postfront- 

 als large, entering orbit and suppressing the anteorbitals. Loral present. 

 Nasals 2, with the nostril in the anterior. Postorbitals 2, the lower 

 small. Scales smooth, or feebly keeled on the posterior of body ; ar- 

 ranged in 15 or 17 rows. Anal plate divided. 



a. Scales in 17 rows. elegaiis, p. 80. 



aa. Scales in 15 rows. valerice. Appendix. 



Virginia elegans, Keun. 



Virginia's Snake. 



Virginia elegajis, Kennicott, 1859, 1, 99; Garman, 1883, 13, 98. 



Originally described by Kennicott from specimens obtained " in heavily 

 timbered regions in Southern Illinois." In my possession is a small spec- 

 imen that was taken by the late Charles Jameson, of Indianapolis, at some 

 point in Brown County. The total length is 5.75 inches. From this I 

 draw a description. 



Head small, narrow, and relatively high. Snout pointed, and the sides 

 of the head perpendicular. Vertical hexagonal, with its right and left 

 sides parallel. Occipitals large. Prefrontals entering the orbit and with 

 the lorals forming its anterior border. Upper labials 6, the eye over the 

 4th and 5th. Scales in 17 rows; smooth, except that those on the tail 

 are feebly keeled. Ventral plates 120 ; subcaudals 45. 



Color gray, with a tinge of purplish, especially on the head. Below 

 yellowish white, possibly reddish in life. On the dorsal surface are to be 

 seen, here and there, small black dots. Those on the upper surface and 

 the sides of the head more numerous and resembling points made by a 

 fine pen. 



From Brown county, Indiana, to Indian Territory (^10, 84). 



Nothing appears to be known about the distinctive habits of this deli- 

 cate little creature. It must live on the smallest insects and worm-like 

 creatures. Its subdued colors will undoubtedly enable it to escape the 

 notice of its enemies. Its near relative, Virghiia valerice, has not yet been 

 found in Indiana. 



