334 FLORIDA REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS—L(ENNBERG. vol, xvii. 



plates of the head are normal, except that the first pair of iiifralabials 

 do not come in contact on the middle line, although very close together. 

 The specimen from Oakland gave me at first much more trouble in 

 classifying, as the prefrontals are completely fused with the preorbitals 

 into one large plate on each side, extending down in front of the eye 

 to the labials and separating the eye from the post- nasal. The color 

 is the same as in the above-mentioned specimen. I take this to be 

 only an individual variation. 



ELAP8 FULVIUS (Liniweus). 



This is the only species of Elaps I have found in south Florida, where 

 it is rather common. It is known under several names, as '' coral snake," 

 "American cobra," " garter snake," and "candy-stick." It is perhaps 

 the most dangerous snake in Florida, because it is not so much dreaded 

 as the big rattlesnake or moccasin, though being quite as poisonous. 

 As the last-mentioned names show, it is regarded as a "pretty little 

 snake." Few people know or believe that it is poisonous, it looks so 

 harmless, and as a consequence they catch it and handle it rather 

 roughly; the snake gets angry, bites, and a human life is endangered. 

 I know personally of such a case. A Swede at Oakland, Orange Coun- 

 ty, found an Ulaps, and because of its very beautiful color he caught 

 it and tried to put it into a bottle of alcohol. The snake bit him, but the 

 wound was not large, and as it did not swell he did not care much 

 about it at first. After a while he was taken very sick, went to bed, asked 

 for a physician, and drank whisky; but it was then too late. He died 

 next morning, about 12 hours after the snake had bitten him. During 

 the last hours he was unconscious, but before that he suffered most 

 excruciating pains. I have heard of several other cases of boys dying 

 from the effects of an Elaps bite. 



In other cases people have been bitten by an Elaps fulvius without 

 suffering from it in any way, but I suppose that in such cases the Elaps 

 had not been able to inject any poison into the wound, as it has a 

 rather small mouth. However that may be, I cannot agree with Cope* 

 that the bite "of the smaller ones (meaning smaller s[)ecies of Elaps) 

 is innocuous to man and tlie larger animals." It is to be observed that 

 the Elaps bites differently from the Crotalids and Viperids. The 

 latter snake throws its head forward, in striking, and draws it back 

 again immediately. The Elaps fulvius^ I have seen and heard about, have 

 acted in an entirely different manner. Tlie poor Swede above men- 

 tioned had to pull the snake from the icound^ and other specimens that 

 I induced to bite into sticks kept the stick in the mouth for a good 

 while. This habit probably signifies an intention to press as much 

 poison as possible into the wound, which makes the snake the more 

 dangerous. Elaps fulvius is, however, a good-natured snake, and it does 



*Proc. U, S. Nat. Mus., xiv, 1891, p. 680 (1892). 



