326 FLORIDA REPTILES AND BATBACHIANS—LCENNBERG. voi„ xvii. 



seen in orange trees. I have never observed it on the ground. It 

 never tries to defend itself in any way. 



BASCANION CONSTRICTOR (Liuujpus). 



The black snake is the commonest snake in South Florida and may 

 be seen everywhere — in the dry pine woods, in the small prairies, at the 

 borders of the lakes, on the ground, or climbing trees, or escaping down 

 into the "gopher" holes. 



At Acadia, De Soto County, I captured a small black snake which 

 was crawling on the upper leaves of a palmetto, and as it presents some 

 I)eculiarities it may be well to describe it in detail. It was very slender, 

 being 600 mm. in total length, with a tail measuring 180 mm.; body 

 compressed and head much broader than neck. The color of the upper 

 surface is as black as in any full grown B. constrictor; the belly is like- 

 wise black, but with a narrow median stripe of small, whitish, cloudy 

 spots; chin, throat, and upper labials whitish; this color extends back 

 over the first 17 gastrosteges, the posterior ones of which are spotted 

 with black. When killed the belly was speckled all over with round 

 orange red or rusty spots of a diameter of 1 to 2 mm., but these have 

 disappeared iii alcohol. Tip of tail underneath, yellowish. Scale 

 rows, 17. Eight supralabials instead of 7 as usual in B. constrictor. 

 Three postoculars, a peculiarity shared in by another full-grown speci- 

 men in my collection. On the whole there seems to be a great varia- 

 tion in the number and relation of these scales and in the temporals, of 

 which there are 6 on one side and 7 on the other in my specimen. 



According to Dr. Stejneger, to whom I have submitted the specimen 

 for examination, it is ai young one in transition to the adult coloration, 

 which it has not yet quite fully acquired. 



BASCANION FLAGELLUM (Shaw). 



This species is not so abundant as the foregoing one, and is mostly 

 found in dry pine woods in which the soil is rich enough to allow oak 

 trees to grow. It is common around Oakland, Orange County. 



It is known as the "coach whip" and sometimes the larger ones are 

 called "chicken suakes,"like several otherofthe larger colubrine snakes. 

 Although a bold fighter and sometimes even found to be the attacking 

 party, it is, of course, perfectly harmless, though some of the ignorant 

 natives fear it greatly, believing that with " a blow of its tail it can break 

 the arm of the largest man." 



CALL0PELT18 GUTTATUS (L i n n se u s .) 



I have specimens of this snake from Ozona Hillsboro County, 

 Orlando, Oakland, Apopka, Oviedo and other places in Orange County; 

 from the dense scrub at Coronado beach, New Smyrna, in Volusia 

 County, and from Key West. It is known by difiereut names in dif- 

 ferent places; for instance, "chicken snake" at New Smyrna and Key 



