24 



Genus DIADOPHIS, Baird & Girard. 



Gen. Char. Head subelliptieal, elongated, depressed, distinct from tlie 

 body. Cephalic plates normal. Two postorbitals, and two anteorbitals. 

 A well-developed loral. Two nasals ; nostril between. Eyes large. Mouth 

 deeply cleft. Body slender, subcylindrical : tail tapering. Scales smooth, 

 disposed in 15 or 17 rows. Postabdominal seutellae bifid : subcaudal 

 all divided. Unicolor above, and generally with a light ring on the 

 occipital region : abdomen lighter, unicolor or punctate. 



Syn. Diadophis, B. & G. 1, c. 1853, 112. 



! 



14, Diadophis rUNCTATUS, B. ^' G. — Bingnecked-snake, 



Spec. Char. A yellowish wliite occip'tal ring. Body bluish black above; yellowish 

 orange beneath, with a medial series of spots, sometimes absent. Tail beneath 

 unicolor. Dorsal scales in 15 rows. Eye above the fourth and fifth upper labials. 

 U8+1, 53, 15, 131, 3 (Penn.), 



SYNONYMS. 



Coluber punctatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 1776, 370. — Gm. L. Syst. Kat. ed. xiii. I. 



iii. 1788, 1089.— IIarl. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. V.1827, 354; and Med. 



&, Phys. Res. 1835, 117.— Stoker, Rep. Rept. Mass. 1839, 225.— Holbr. N. 



Amer. llerp. 2d ed. III. 1812, 81, pi. xviii.— Dekay, N.Y. Fauna, III. 1842, 



39, pi. xiv. f. 29. 

 Spiletes punctatus, Swains. Nat, Hist, of Fish. Amph. k. Rept. II. 1839, 3G4, - 

 tCalamaria punctata, ScuL. Ess. Phys, Serp. Part, descr. 1837, 39, 

 Diadophis punctatus, B. 8c G. 1. c. 1853, 112, 



This beautiful species is common in the mountainous districts of Penn- 

 •sylvania and Virginia, and extends from Maine to Wisconsin, being also 

 widely distributed in the south. It is frequently found coiled up beneath flat 

 -stones, and the fallen bark of logs, in which situations I have sometimes 

 found as many as twenty in a single day. In Texas, and the far west, it is 

 replaced by other allied species. 



