14 [Senate 



York State Cabinet. You will perhaps remember, that in my 

 article on the serpents of New- York, published in the report for 

 1853,* I mentioned this as an additional species to be looked for 

 along the southern border of the State. 



The list of New-York serpents, with the present addition, now 

 embraces eighteen species. 



Yours truly, 



SPENCER F. BAIRD. 



John Gebhard junior, Albany. 



As this species is not included in Dekay's Fauna of our State, 

 we publish the following detailed description by Professor Baird, 

 taken from the catalogue of North American Reptiles in the 

 museum of the Smithsonian Institution. 



Heterodon NIGER, Troost, — Black Viper. 



Spec. Char. Vertical plate as long as the occipitals. Rostral prominent. 

 Dorsal rows of scales 25, the exterior smooth, the 2d row obsoletely, 

 carinated, the rest with the scales distinctly carinated, the carinae extend- 

 ing quite to the tip. Uniform black above, slate-color beneath. 



SYNONYMS. 



Vipera nigra, Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carol. II, 1743, 44. PI. xliv. 



Scytale niger, Daud. Hist. Nat. Kept. V, 1799, 342. — Harl. Journ. Acad, Nat. Sc. 



Philad. V, 1827, 367; and Med. & Phys. Res. 1885, 130. 

 Coluber cacodemon, Shaw, Gen. Zool. Ill, 1802, 377. PI. cii. 

 Coluber thraso, Harl. Med. & Phys. Res. 1835, 120. 

 Heterodon niger, Troost. Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. York, III, 1836, 186.— 1 Hoibb. 



N. Amer. Herp. 1st ed. II, 1838, 105. PI. xxiiij and 2d ed. Ill, 1842, 63. PI. 



xvi. 

 Black Viper; Spreading Adder. 



Postfrontals large, extending to the loral. Prefrontals smaller. Azygos 

 rather large, separating the prefrontals entirely, and the postfrontals 

 anteriorly : in a line with the rostral. Rostral broad. Keel acutely dis- 

 tinct. Scales on the back of head keeled, though obsoletely in those next 

 to the occipital plates. The line from tip of snout to lower angle of pos- 

 terior labial, crosses the lower part of the eye, whose centre is a little in 

 advance of the middle of this line. Orbital chain of 9 plates. Loral tri- 



* See Seventli Annual Report, page 103. 



