No. 50.] 119 



Mentis CHLOEOSOMA, Wagk 



^CtEN. Char. Head elongated, ovoidal, separated from the body by a slen- 

 der neck. ; snout protruding. Cephalic places normal. One nasal plate, 

 vv^th the nostril in the centre : one loral : one anteorbital ; two post- 

 orbitals. Eyes veiy large. Mouth deeply cleft. Tail slender, between ^ 

 and ^ of total length. Scales all perfectly smooth. Postabdominal scu- 

 tella bifid : subeaudal all bifid. Color uniform. 



^Byn, CMorosoma, Wagl, Nat. Syst der Ampk 1830, 185, 



13, Chloeosoma vernalis, B. ^ G. — Greensnake. 



Spec. Char, Uniform green:; darker above, lighter beneath. Dorsal scales in fifteen 

 rows. 138-4-1, 70, U, 18, b\ (New-York). 



SYNONYMS. 



'Coluber vernalis, Dekait, MSS. — Harl. Journ. Acad. l!?at. Sc. Philad. V, 1827, 

 361; and Med. & Phys. Res. 1835, 124.— Stores, Rep, Rept. Mass. 1839, 224, 

 — HoLBR. N. Amer. Herp. III. 1842, 79, pi. xvii. — Deeat, N. York Fauna, 

 Rept. 1842, 40, pi. xi. f. 22.— Thomps. Hist, of Verm. 1842, 117, 



'€!hlorosoma vernniis, B. & G, 1. c 1853, 108. 



This gentle and harmless species, which Dr. Dekat was the first to in- 

 troduce to the notice of the scientific world, is generally known as the green 

 *or grass-snake. It is quite northern in its distribution, extending from Maine 

 to Wisconsin, and not hitherto found south of Virginia on the Atlantic ooas^. 



