A RARE REPTILE. 129 



rents. Its altitude does, in no case, exceed eighteen inches 

 — more commonly four or five. Its periods of vibration are 

 short. 



Mr. Winslow stated that during the past severe weather 

 his men had found great numbers of moles among the straw 

 and litter used as a mulch around the ai^ple trees in his 

 orchard, and that many of tlie trees were entirely girdled. 

 He thought that this was, in all likelihood, the work of mice, 

 as knawing bark was not the habit of the mole, unless the 

 extreme cold weather had deprived them of the power to 

 obtain other food. 



The meeting then adjourned for one week. 



John Kirkpatrick, Sec'y. 



A RAKE REPTILE. 



Lettei' read before the Cleveland Acadmy of Natural Science, and dated 



Laport, Inc., August 27, 1857. 



The late Rev. Charles Fox, of Michigan, exhibited to the 

 naturalists, present at the meeting of the Scientific Associ- 

 ation at Cleveland, several years since, a specimen of an 

 undescribed and unique species of snake. It was subse- 

 quently placed in the hands of Prof. Baird, of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, who described it, but as I can not here 

 refer to his papers, or remember the generic and specific 

 names, I must designate it as the Red Bellied Snake * 



That specimen was, perhaps, three feet aad a half long, 

 resembling in shape the common water snake, known 

 among older naturalists as the Coluber sipadon. The 



■■' This snake proves to be the Tropidonotits Ekythrogaster of Shaw, vid. 

 Holbrook's Herpitology, Vol. IV., p. 33, pi. VII. 



I have traced this species continuously from Elmore Station, Ottawa county, 

 Ohio, to the State of Texas, by aid of the late Robert Kennicott. It had been 

 considered as an inhabitant of only the extreme Southern States. 



J. P. KiRTLAND. 



Q 



