SUPPLEMENT 



HERPETOLOGICAL REPORT 



After my Report upon the Reptiles of Massachusetts had 

 passed through the press, I met with a paper which had been 

 long sought for in vain — a " Report of a Committee of the 

 Linnaean Society of New England." It will be observed that 

 I have embodied in my paper all species which have been 

 recognised by naturalists, whether I have seen them or not. 

 I should be guilty of great neglect therefore, were I to pass 

 unnoticed the following species. It appears by this Report, 

 that in September, 1817, a remarkable serpent was taken near 

 Gloucester, Cape Ann, which, having been carefully examined 

 by a committee of the Linnasan Society, composed of John 

 Davis, Jacob Bigelow, and Francis C. Gray, was considered a 

 nondescript, and the following report was presented by them 

 to the Society, accompanied by a plate of its external appear- 

 ance and another of its internal anatomy, under the name of 



SCOLIOPHIS ATLANTICUS. 



" External appearance. The animal had the general 

 form and external characters of a serpent ; but was remarkably 

 distinguished from all others of that class known to your com- 

 mittee, by a row of protuberances along the back, apparently 

 formed by undulations of the spine. From the back of the 



