HELICOPS ERYTHROGRAMMUS. 109 



inches: total length, 3 feet 7i inches. I have seen one nuich larger. Tlie speci- 

 men figured had 178 abdominal plates, and 39 sub-caudal bilid plates. 



Geographical Distribution. 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. 



Habits. 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 lies 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 bijmnctatus* 

 (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 

 tiiat his Coluber erythrogrammus attains the length of five feet, and I have seen 



* Phys. des Serp., torn. ii. p. 320. 



