CORONELLA SAYI. 101 



in the valley of the Mississippi; for I have received it from Louisiana, high up 

 Red river, from Missouri, from Arkansas, and also many specimens from Alabama; 

 which, for the present, I must put down as its northern limit. 



General Remarks. Dr. De Kay was the first herpetologist who noticed it as a 

 distinct species, and communicated his observations to Say and other naturalists, 

 who regarded it only as a variety of the Coronella getula, to which it certainly 

 bears a striking general resemblance; yet on minute examination there will be 

 found sufficient difference to constitute them distinct species. 



The head of this animal is rather smaller, with the snout more prolonged than 

 in the Coronella getula; the colours are differently disposed; the body is shorter 

 and the tail longer in proportion; and their geographical distribution is widely 

 different; the Coronella getula being found seven or eight hundred miles farther 

 north in the Atlantic states than the Coronella getula; whereas, if they were but 

 varieties, we might expect to find both animals in the same localities. 



Schlegel was the first naturalist who published a description of this beautiful 

 animal, in his excellent work entitled "Essai sur la Physionomie des Serpens." 



