30 Storer on the 
C. eximius. Dekay. The chicken Snake. 
Harlan's Med. and Phys. Res. p. 123. 
i 
T 
This not very uncommon species, is known by 
the names of house snake; thunder and lightning 
snake; chicken snake; milk adder; and chequered 
adder. It is one of our largest species, measuring 
sometimes five feet or more in length; and is a beau- 
tiful snake. A specimen thirty-four inches in length, 
furnishes the following description: Body elongated, 
varying very little, in its circumference anterior to 
the tail, but back of the vent, rapidly terminating 
in a point; all the upper portion of the body cov- 
ered with smooth rhomboidal scales. Body, above, 
of a dark brown color, with numerous transverse 
white bands, which become confluent on the sides ; 
the brown portions of the back. between these trans- 
verse bands, irregular in their form, and margined 
with black; blotches of a similar color with the 
back, along the sides. Abdomen yellowish, varie- 
gated with quadrangular black spots. Circumference 
of the head less than that of the body; length of 
the head, one inch; width across the head, half an 
inch. The plate at the snout large, with a well 
marked emargination beneath; the first pair of 
plates moderate in size, quadrangular ; the second 
pair of plates also quadrangular, and much larger ; 
the central plate on the top of ‘the head, large, pen- 
tagonal; those upon the sides of this, irregularly 
quadrangular ; occipital plates very large. Fourteen 
plates margin the upper jaw; sixteen plates edge the 
