10 PITUOPHIS MELANOLEUCUS. 
Grocrapnicat Disrrisurion, This serpent abounds in the pine forests of New 
Jersey; though Daudin says Pallisot de Beauvais never saw it in Pennsylvania; 
where it is, however, common enough. From Jersey, which seems to be its 
northern limit, it passes through Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and 
Florida, always preferring the same pine districts, from which circumstance its 
common name is derived. How far south-west it may reach, I cannot say, but 
it certainly has been observed in some of the states beyond the Mississippi river. 
Gunerat Remarks. <A good deal of doubt has arisen as to the propriety of 
continuing the specific name melanoleucus of Daudin, as his description is copied 
from Bartram, and is thought to be too short and imperfect to characterize any 
animal with certainty; hence Cloquet and others have proposed to erase it 
altogether from our catalogue of reptiles; yet it seems to me that, by proper 
investigation, it can be made clear to what animal Bartram applied the epithet 
“Pine Snake,” and thus the name may be retained. Bartram travelled in 
Carolina and Florida, where he saw a large snake—perhaps the largest in 
North America,”—pied black and white,”—and called “Pine Snake or Bull 
Snake;” all this agrees perfectly well with the animal now under consideration, 
and with no other. 
1. It is perhaps the largest snake known to inhabit the United States. 
2. Its colour, when the skin has been lately shed, is “pied black and white.” 
3. The common name Pine Snake is still applied to this serpent wherever it is 
found. 
