120 [Senate 



GfENU& DIADOPHIS, Bairi) & Girard, 



(Jen. Char. Head subelliptical, elongated, depressed, distinct from the- 

 body. Cephalic plates normal. Two postorbitals, and two anteorbitals, 

 A well-developed loral. Two nasals ; nostril between. Eyes large. Mouth 

 deeply cleft. Body slender, subcylindrical : tail tapermg. Scales smooth^ 

 disposed in 15 or 17 rows. Postaladominal scutellae bifid : subcaudal 

 all divided. Unicolor above, and generally with a light ring on the 

 occipital region r abdomen lighter, unicolor or punctate. 



Syn. Diadopkis, B. & Gt. L c. 1853, 112. 



14. DiADOPHis PTJNCTATUs, B. ^ G. — Kingnecked-snake. 



Spec. Chak. A yellowisli white occip'tal ring. Body bluish black above j yellowish 

 orange beneath, with a medial series of spots, sometimes absent. Tail beneath 

 unicolor. Dorsal scales in 15 rows. Eye above the fourth and fifth upper labials, 

 148+1, 53, 15, 13g, 3 (Penn.). 



STNONTMS. 



Coluber punctatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 1776, 376. — Gm. L. Syst. Nat. ed. xiii. I. 



iii. 1788, 1089.— Harl. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. V.1827, 354; and Med. 



& Phys. Res. 1835, 117.— Storer, Rep. Rept. Mass. 1839, 225.— Holbr. N, 



Amer. Herp. 2d ed. III. 1842, 81, pi. xviii.— Dekay, N.Y. Fauna, III. 1842, 



89, pi. xiv. f. 29. 

 Spihtes punctatus, Swains. Nat. Hist, of Fish, Amph. & Rept. II. 1839, 364. ■■,^: 

 Calamaria punctata, Schl. Ess, Phys. Serp. Part, descr, 1837, 39. 

 Diadophis punctatus, B. & G. 1. c. 1853, 112. 



This beautiful species is common in the mountainous districts of Penn-' 

 sylvania and Virginia, and extends from Maine to Wisconsin, being als(y 

 widely distributed in the south. It is frequently found coiled up beneath flat 

 stones, and the fallen bark of logs, in which situations I have sometime* 

 found as many as twenty in a single day. In Texas, and the far west, it m 

 replaced by other allied species. 



