98 TROPIDONOTUS FASCIATUS. 
quently the old Tropidonotus fasciatus, before it has shed its skin, resembles 
nearly Catesby’s plate, with the exception of the fangs. 
Another reason for believing that the animals are identical, is that after twelve 
years’ search, both in Carolina and in Virginia, where he represents the Brown 
Viper as abounding, under the name Truncheon Snake, I have never seen any 
animal bearing the least resemblance to Catesby’s figure, except the Tropidonotus 
fasciatus; and my friend Professor Geddings, who, during a residence of some 
years in the lower districts of Carolina, where he observed these animals closely, 
is of the same opinion. 
The fangs of Catesby’s figure, and the “bite venomous as any” of his 
description, must go for nothing; for he saw the same thing and figured similar 
fangs for the Black Viper, where they never exist, and which is now known to be 
a harmless animal. If this opinion be correct, and the animals are identical, and 
of that I have little doubt, then the Brown Viper must be stricken from the list of 
serpents, and its synonymes transferred to the Tropidonotus fasciatus, as the 
Coluber tisiphone, Scytalus tisiphone, &ec. We. 
