4 LEPTOPHIS SAURITUS. 
from our animal, according to Say, “in the numerical proportion that its sub- 
caudal scales bear to its abdominal plates;” which is not sufficient of itself to 
distinguish animals so closely allied. 
GeneraL Remarks. The first account of this serpent may be seen in Catesby’s 
History of Carolina, &c.; where it is figured and described under the name of 
Riband Snake; which it bears to the present time with us among all classes of 
people. Linneus received it into the twelfth edition of the Systema Nature, and 
applied to it the specific name saurita, which has been universally adopted by 
naturalists; nor can there be a doubt of his meaning, for his only references are 
to Catesby and to Dr. Garden: although the number of sub-caudal scales he gives 
does not agree with my observations, yet this might have been the result of 
accident in the specimen that he examined. 
