36 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 
The specimen which furnished the preceding description was forty inches long. I have 
never myself seen one of the greatest size mentioned above, but it was stated to me by a 
person upon whose scrupulous accuracy I place implicit reliance. 
The Black Snake is a bold, active, wild and untameable animal. It climbs trees with 
great ease, by coiling itself round the trunk in a spiral mamner, in search of eggs and young 
birds. Although perfectly free from any venomous qualities, they will, on some occasions, 
make considerable resistance, and even pursue an enemy who retreats before them. In various 
parts of the State, they have the popular names of Racer, Pilot and Black Snake. They 
feed on frogs, toads, and the smaller quadrupeds and birds. 'The lovers of the marvellous 
have attributed to this and many other species the power of fascination. ‘This wonderful 
power, as far as I have heard, seems to be confined exclusively to birds. All the phenomena 
witnessed on such occasions may be readily solved by the terror occasioned by the snake’s 
appearance near their young, and by the well known artifices resorted to by many birds to 
mislead an enemy. Many years since, I examined, in the collection of Dr. Mitchill, a large 
snake which had been sent from Massachusetts, and had been described, I know not upon 
what authority, as the young of the Sea Serpent. Its vertebra were diseased nearly through- 
out the whole extent of the column; but as it clearly belonged to this species, the name of 
Scoliophis atlanticus must be expunged from the systems. 
The Black Snake extends from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. According to Stedman, it 
is found in Surinam. It is numerous over the Western States to the Rocky Mountains. Dr. 
Kirtland observes, that in Ohio, it is evidently on the increase as the State becomes cleared 
and cultivated. 
THE PILOT BLACK-SNAKE. 
CoLUBER ALLEGHANIENSIS. 
PLATE XII. FIG. 26. 
Coluber alleghaniensis. Ho.tproox, N. Am. Herpetology, Vol.1, p.111, pl. 20. 
Characteristics. Black. Scales carinate. Length 5 — 6 feet. 
Description. Head long and large ; vertical plate pentangular, short and broad ; temporal 
variable, consisting sometimes of two or three narrow plates, or their place chiefly occupied 
by the last labial plates very much enlarged. Posterior orbital plates two in number ; the 
anterior orbital single and very large, the local small and trapezoidal. Nostrils lateral. Eyes 
rather large ; pupil black ; iris brown. Neck small; the body much elongated, fusiform, or 
tapering at each extremity. Scales oblong, oval, and bipunctate at the apex; those on the 
back havea distinct carina; the four or five inferior rows on each side smooth ; broader on the 
tail, and hexagonal. ‘Tail short, tapering. 
Color. Head black above ; marginal plates silvery white, edged with black ; throat silvery 
white. Body above, intense polished black ; in certain lights an intense brown may be per- 
ceived, Many of the scales have marginal dashes of white, which are only evident when the 
