782 The American Naturalist. [August, 
It had swallowed two young birds, and another was part way down its 
throat. The young man had not ** believed in killing snakes,” but on 
this occasion he despatched the reptile forthwith. The barn is sheeted 
up with rough pine boards, upon which there are two coats of paint, 
and from the ground to the point whence the snake was dislodged the 
distance is nineteen feet and four inches. How it managed to get to 
the spot seems altogether a niystery. There was no hole through the 
side of the barn nor under the roof boards, nor did it seem possible 
for it to have worked its way from the top of the roof. Then, it was 
quite as difficult for it to have found a way to the roof. Mr. Car- 
penter is a most reliable observer of all natural phenomena,—an in- 
vestigator, really, —but he was unable to form any opinion as to how 
the reptile reached its prey. He described it as resembling the com- 
mon garter-snake, except in the matter of its great size, hence I could 
form no idea as to the species to which it belonged.— CHARLES ‘AL- 
DRICH, Webster City, Lowa, July, 14, 1890. 
Snakes in Banana Bunches.— Banana bunches brought from 
tropical America sometimes contain snakes of the family Boide, tightly 
wound round the central stem. A specimen of this kind was taken 
in Savanna, Georgia, and was sent to the United States National 
Museum. I identified it as the Zpicrates augulifer, a native of Cuba. 
More recently a snake was found in a similar situation in a lot ot 
bananas in Chicago, and was sent by Dr. J. L. Hancock to the Na- 
tional Museum. Dr. Stejneger has identified it as the Boa imperator, 
the common species of Central America and Mexico. The specimens 
are always young, as adult boas of the genera named could not be con- 
cealed in so,small a space.—E. D. Cope. 
ENTOMOLOGY. 
Recent Literature.—Several notable entomological articles have 
been recently issued by the National Museum. Mr. Henry Edward's 
Bibliographical Catalogue of the Described Transformations of North 
American Lepidoptera, which forms Bulletin No. 35, is a very useful 
compilation, and ought to stimulate the study of the earlier stages of 
the group. There are 1,069 species included in the Catalogues, the 
Tineide heading the list with 222 entries, and Zygenidx bringing up 
the rear with 13 entries, ; 
