84 COLUBER PUNCTATUS. 



others in Spilotes. For the present I shall leave it in that of Coluber, uhere it 

 was first placed by Linnaeus, from the type of Avhich it diflers only in having the 

 head a little shorter, though the plates are the same in number, and nearly in 

 form, the neck a little less contracted, the tail shorter, &c., all of which might be 

 useful in settling a species, but cannot determine a genus. 



