524 Ma. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE VASCULAR AND [May 1, 



Coluber guttatus has a lung which is'slightly different in various 

 ways fi-om the species ah-eady described. The ti'acheal gutter 

 extends a good way down the lung, in fact a little way beyond 

 the point where it ceases to be vascular. This point is 5 inches 

 from the apex of the heart, and rather more than 2 inches after 

 the commencement of the liver. The lung-tissue does not cease 

 abruptly anteriorly, but dies away gradually some little way in 

 front of the heai't. Here and further forward the membrane 

 Ijvcig between the extremities of the tracheal semirings is of 

 considerable breadth. At about on a level with the apex of the 

 heart there is an aperture in the lung-tissue which leads into a 

 forwardly directed diverticulum of the lung. I could find a 

 minute though decided trace of a second lung arising from the 

 tracheal gutter on a level with the apex of the heart. 



The lung in Erythrolamjjrus cescula2ni is single, there being 

 only a rudiment of the second lung. This rudiment, however, is 

 distinctly vascular and cellular in appearance, and a branch from 

 the pulmonary artery serves it. It is not, however, more than 

 about I of an inch in length, and communicates with the trachea 

 not by a separate bronchus, but hj a round hole in the trachea 

 before the latter ends in the interior of the perfect lung. The 

 complete lung extends headwards beyond the point where the 

 trachea enters it, as in various Snakes and Lizards. This section 

 of the lung has a kind of independence, for it possesses a restricted 

 lumen which is not broadly continuous with that of the lung 



1853, pp. 65 & 69) distinguisli " Piti/op7iis " catenifer and " P." melanoleiiciis by, 

 inter alia, the numerous dorsal blotches of the former and the fewer and larger of 

 the latter. Bouleuger does not use this difference, and for the good reason (so far as 

 his own views are concerned) that he regards as a sj'nonym of C. melanoleucus 

 " Churcliillia" or " Fitoi/phis" hellona of Baird & Girard {loc. cit. p. 66), which 

 has, like C. catenifer, numerous smallish dorsal blotches, but has the narrow rostral 

 and other characters of C. melanoleucus. The specimen of Coliiier described above 

 as " Coluber catenifer var. sayi " is quite obviously Baird & Girard's JPityophis 

 hellona. It has the additional frontal shield mentioned and figured bj' those authors. 

 In other respects, save colour, it agrees in all the characters that I have just men- 

 tioned with nxy two examples of C melanoleucus ; the subcaudal scales are 55 pairs. 

 The colour is paler than that of my example of C. catenifer, but the pattern is the 

 same. These facts seem to me to support the view (held by Cope and others) that 

 Coluber sayi is a distinct species. And I have further evidence pointing the same 

 way. The arrangement of the tracheal gutter is like that of Coluber catenifer, not 

 of C. m.elanoleuc7is. 



In Coluber melanoleucus (measuring 41 inches from snout to cloaca) the liver, 7f 

 inches long, commences 4 inches away from the apex of the heart. A second specimen 

 showed the same proportion. In an example of Coluber catenifer (SBJ- inches from 

 snout to cloaca) the liver (7j inches long) commences 2 inches from the apex of the 

 heart. Finallj--, in " Coluber catenifer var. sayi," measuring 32 inches from snout 

 to cloaca, the liver (6f inches long) begins 2 inches from apex of heart. To resume — 

 the snake called Coluber sayi by Schlegeland ChurcMllia bellonahy Baird & Girard 

 is not to be confused with either C. melanoleucus or C. catenifer. While the scaling 

 of the head agrees with that of C. melanoleticus, the colour plan is that of C. catenifer. 

 Certain visceral characters also agree with those of C. catenifer rather than C. melano- 

 leucus. We must therefore either fuse all these varieties into one species or 

 distinguish three. The latter course seems to be the more reasonable. But it 

 obviously remains to be determined what are the limits of the species, so far as 

 external characters are concerned. 



