106 CORONELLA DOLIATA. 



covered above with scales similar to those of the neck, but larger. The tail is 

 rather short, thick at its root, but soon becomes smaller, and terminates in a tip. 



Colour. The anterior half of the head is light red, shaded with dusky; the 

 posterior half is black, being included in the first black ring. The body is scarlet, 

 banded with twenty-two pairs of jet black rings, with a white ring between each 

 pair of black. These rings do not completely surround the body, as in Calamaria 

 elapsoidea, but the lower part of the anterior ring of one pair is continued on the 

 margin of the abdomen to the posterior ring of another pair; sometimes they 

 nearly meet in the centre of the abdomen. The belly is white, marked with 

 black bars and bands that communicate with the different rings of the back. 



Dimensions. Length of head, 10 lines; of body, 11 inches; of tail, 2^ inches. 

 In the individual here described, there were 174 abdominal plates, and 40 sub- 

 caudal scutella. 



Habits. I know but little of the habits of this animal, never having seen 

 more than half a dozen living animals; they seem gentle and timid, and could not 

 be provoked to bite. 



Geographical Distribution. This serpent has been observed in the middle 

 states by Dr. Harlan; by Troost in Tennessee, who furnished Schlegel with speci- 

 mens; and I have seen it in Carolina and Georgia. 



General Remarks. Schlegel received this animal from Professor Troost, of 

 Nashville, and described it under the name of Coronella coccinea; at the same 

 time he refers doubtingly to the Coluber doliatus of Lacepede. I have not the 

 least doubt that this animal is identical with the Coluber doliatus of Linna;us, 

 (whose specific name I have retained,) which he received from Dr. Garden; it 

 differs only in colour, and this is easily accounted for by the action of the alcohol, 

 in which the specimen was preserved. This bleached the red colour to white, 

 but the black rings remained unchanged. 



