HELICOPS ERYTHROGRAMMUS. 109 
inches: total length, 3 feet 73 inches. I have seen one much larger. The speci- 
men figured had 178 abdominal plates, and 39 sub-caudal bifid plates. 
GrocrapnicaL Distrisurion. This serpent is by no means uncommon in 
Carolina. I have often seen it near the banks of the Santee river. Dr. Ravenel 
has procured me specimens from the lower country, and Dr. Wurdeman, from 
Greenville, South Carolina. 
Hasrrs. This animal is found in swampy grounds and damp places, in holes 
in the earth, or under the stumps of old trees, and passes much of its time under 
ground, whence it is frequently turned out in ploughing, but never takes to the 
water. It frequents the banks of rice fields, where it les in wait for its prey, 
the large rat that infests them, injuring at once the rice and the banks by burrow- 
ing in the soil. Spite of this essential service, the universal prejudice against 
the serpent tribe causes its destruction from all hands. 
GeneraL Remarks. This beautiful serpent was first noticed by Palisot de 
Beauvois, who found it in the southern states, and communicated a specimen 
to Daudin, which he described as the Coluber erythrogrammus. 
Schlegel supposes the Coluber erythrogrammus of Daudin is not identical with 
the animal now under consideration, but that it is the Coluber bipunctatus* 
(Tropidonotus sirtalis) of Latreille, which to me is inconceivable. Daudin’s 
account agrees with our serpent, even to the markings on the belly, in every 
particular, except in having three vertebral rows of carinated scales. This 
arrangement is not mentioned in his specific characters of the animal; and it is 
possible that he might have been deceived in the matter, as his description was 
drawn up from a dried skin, or it might have been the result of hasty observation, 
as no such structure exists in any one of our Helicopes. Besides, Daudin says 
that his Coluber erythrogrammus attains the length of five feet, and I have seen 
* Phys. des Serp., tom. ii. p. 320. 
