Black-banded Snake

Erythrolamprus imperialis, (Baird)

Colouration: Pale brown; a black band on the back and a similar band on each side. Abdomen reddish; sometimes spotted.
Dimensions: Total length, 14 inches; tail, 6 inches.
Distribution: Central America and Mexico, northward into southern Texas.
Dimensions: Length . . . . . 9 inches.
Distribution: Southeastern States. South Carolina to Florida (inclusive); westward to Mississippi.
Distribution: Seven specimens known; all captured twenty-five years ago, at Fresno, California.
Distribution: Texas and New Mexico.
Distribution: Missouri to Texas.
Distribution: North Carolina to southern Mexico.
Distribution: Arizona; northern Mexico.

Small in size and with a rather slender body. The head is but slightly distinct from the neck. Ventral plate divided.

A black-bordered, yellow line from the snout to the temple.

The Genus Tantilla-the Black-headed Snakes: In the number of species, Tantilla is a fairly large genus, but all of the members are of diminutive proportions. They inhabit the southern portions of the United States, Mexico, Central America and South America. Most of the species have a pale brown body and a black head.

The body is slender, with about fifteen rows of smooth, opalescent scales; the head is flat and not distinct from the neck. In front of the eye is a single plate (preocular). The loreal plate is lacking. (See Figure).

These tiny serpents are provided with the usual dentition of the Opisthoglyph snakes--grooved fangs on the rear portion of the upper jaw, but may be classed among the reptiles innocuous to man as their microscopic teeth would be unable to draw blood.

The species of Tantilla lead a secretive, or burrowing life.

A concise list, only, is given of these serpents:

General Colouration.--Body brown; head blackish.

A. Seven upper lip plates (superior labials).

a. A yellow or white ring at base of head.

Yellow ring followed by a broader ring of black.

CROWNED SNAKE, T. coronata, (B. & .G.)

Tail . . . . . 1 5/8 inches.

Diameter . . . . . 3/16 inches.

Width of Head . . . . . 3/16 inches.

Length of Head . . . . . 9/32 inches.

Yellow ring bordered in rear by black dots.

EISEN'S BLACK-HEADED SNAKE, T. eiseni, (Stejneger.)

b. No yellow ring at base of head.

TEXAS BLACK-HEADED SNAKE, T. nigriceps, (Kennicott).

B. Six upper lip plates.

Colouration like the preceding species.

SLENDER BLACK-HEADED SNAKE, T. gracilis, (B. & G.)

Among these North American Opisthoglyph snakes, the species of Trimorphodon and Sibon alone, are actually dangerous. Fortunately, they are easy to recognise by the distinct head and cat-like eye. Compared with the other--degenerate--snakes of the kind inhabiting the United States, they are unique.

A Large Sub-family of the COLUBRIDAE Embracing the Old World Cobras and Their Allies, and the American Coral Snakes--Resume of the ELAPINAE--Descriptions of the North American Species--Their Habits

Classification and Distribution.--With the exception of the Coral Snakes (genus Elaps), the Elapine snakes inhabit the Old World. This sub-family is composed of twenty-nine genera, which embrace about one hundred and forty species.

While the Elapine snakes occur abundantly in Africa, southern Asia and throughout the Malay Archipelago, they are most elaborately represented in Australia and New Guinea. Australia-teems with these formidable reptiles which compose the serpent life of that great island, with the exception of a very few harmless species. The Black Snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus), the Tiger Snake (Hoplocephalus curtus), the Brown Snake (Diemenia superciliosa) and the Death Adder (Acanthophis antarctica) are among the deadly snakes of the latter country. With the exception of the Death Adder, these species are very closely allied to the Cobras, and exhibit a tendency to dilate the neck into a "hood" when angered.

The largest species of the Elapine snakes are the Cobras, genus Naja, which inhabit southern Asia, the Malay Archipelago and Africa. The majority of these serpents, of which there are ten species, attain a length of six feet, and one species, the King Cobra (N. bungarus), grows to a length of twelve feet. Probably the most familiar example of the Elapinoe is the Cobra-de-capello (N. tripudians) of southern Asia and Malaysia. This is the snake so frequently employed by the Hindoos in their exhibitions. Another well-known species is the Egyptian Cobra, or "Asp." (N. haje), alleged by historians to have been used in the suicide of Cleopatra. When annoyed, the majority of the Cobras rear the forward portion of the body from the ground, and dilate the neck broadly, thus producing the familiar "hood." The skin is spread by a number of movable ribs, which lie against the back-bone when the snake is in a passive mood.

The American Elapine serpents--the Coral Snakes--although structurally related to the deadly and vivacious Cobras and their allies, are rather degenerate reptiles, of considerably smaller proportions. All evince burrowing habits, and the greater number of the species occur in tropical South America and Central America.

Anatomy of the Elapine Snakes.--From a structural standpoint, with the exception of the teeth, the Elapine serpents are exactly like the typical harmless snakes--sub-family Colubrinoe. The majority of the species are slender of body, with a rather narrow head. A Cobra, when in a passive mood, exhibits much the same outlines as the harmless Gopher Snake (Spilotes corais couperi) of the southern United States. Compare heads (figured) of the coral snakes with those of the harmless species. Hence the beginner must again make careful note that all poisonous snakes--and in fact some of the most deadly known species--cannot be distinguished by the possession of a "broad, triangular head." That rule applies to the viperine snakes, but is by no means infallible in separating the latter from many of the thick-bodied innocuous species.