Note 52 — PETER KALM’s TRAVELS. (continued 2)
Johann Reinhold Forster translation
On the road we saw a Black Snake, which we killed, and found just five foot long. Catesby has described it and its qualities, and also drawn it52. The full-grown Black Snakes are commonly about five feet long, but very slender; the thickest I ever saw was in the broadest part hardly three inches thick; the back is black, shining, and smooth; the chin white and smooth; the belly whitish turning into blue, shining, and very smooth; I believe there are some varieties of this snake. One which was nineteen inches long, had a hundred and eighty-six scales on the belly, (Scuta Abdominalia) and ninety-two half scales on the tail (Squamæ subcaudales), which I found to be true, by a repeated counting of the scales. Another, which was seventeen inches and a half in length, had a hundred and eighty-four scales on the belly, and only sixty-four half scales on the tail; this I likewise assured myself of, by counting the scales over again. It is possible that the end of this last snake’s tail was cut off, and the wound healed up again53.