14 



Genus EU^iENIA, Baird & Girard. 



Gen. Char. Body moderately stout in some species, slenderer in others. 

 Scales carinated. Skin very extensible. Cephalic plates normal. Anterior 

 orbitals 1 ; posterior, 3. Abdominal^cutella3 all entire ; subcaudal, 

 divided. Dorsal rows of scales 19 - 2ll^ Abdominal scutellje 140 - 170 ; 

 subcaudal, 50 - 120. General color, three light stripes on a darker 

 ground : intervals with alternating or tessellated spots. Abdomen with- 

 out square blotches. Mostly terrestrial. Many of the species are ovo- 

 viviparous. 



Syn. Eutainia, B. & G. Catal. N. Am. Serpents (1853), 24. 



4. EuTiENiA SAURiTA, B. & G. — Ribbonsnake. 



Spec. Char. Body very slender, elongated. Tail very long. Lateral stripe on the 

 third and fourth rows of scales : dorsal rows 19. Color above, light chocolate : 

 three stripes of uniform_ yellow; below the lateral stripes, light brown. Abdomen 

 greenish white. On an average, the length of the tail is more than one-third the 

 total length. 15G, 115, 19, 35, 12:} (Pennsylvania). 



SYNONYMS. 



Coluber saurita, Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 17G6, 385. — Gm. L. Syst. Nat. ed. xiii. I. iii. 

 1788, 1109.— Harl. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. V. 1825, 352.— Storer, 

 Rep. Kept. Mass. 1839, 229.— Thomps. Hist, of Verm. 1842, 115. 



Leptophis sauritus, Holbr. N. Amer. Herj). III. 1842, 21, pi. iv. — Dekay, N.Y. 

 Fauna, 1842, 47, pi. xi. fig..24. 



Eutainia saurita, B. & G. Catal. N. Am. Serpents (1853), 24. 



This slender and graceful serpent, as far as I know, is confined pretty 

 much to that portion of the United States east of the Mississippi, being in- 

 deed most abundant in the region of the Allegheny mountains. In the far west 

 it is replaced by E. proxima, and other allied species. It is generally found 

 near the edge of woods, and not unfrequently in or about the water, in which 

 it seems perfectly at home. It is unnecessary, perhaps, to say of this species, 

 what is perfectly true of all the New- York species except the rattlesnakes 

 and copperhead, that it is entirely harmless ; its bite, if it should inflict one, 

 being similar in its effects to the scratch or puncture of a pin. 



