Note the following nomenclatural issues concerning which publication and author made this name available, and its gender. In late 1800, Lacépède apparently gave a presentation or reading in association with the 'Inst. nat.' (Institut national) concerning a new species. Brief notes were compiled for publication in the Bulletin des Sciences par la Société Philomathique (a quarto, 4 leaves or 8 pages, was published for each month of the Republic at that time), and appeared there in vol. 2, no. 46 (p.169), for 'Nivôse, an 9 de la République,' corresponding approximately with 22 Dec 1800 to 20 Jan 1801. That note is titled 'Sur un nouveau genre de serpent, par le C. Lacépède,' but initials at the bottom are 'C. V.' Various initials appear under each piece, and along with the third person phrasing in the piece, suggest this C. V. individual compiled Lacépède's notes, with additional wording, in that short piece. Unfortunately, no scientific name appears in the work, only the clearly vernacular 'Erpeton tentaculé,' so in any case the name is not available from it. In volume 4 of Histoire Naturelle des Reptiles, with cover date of 'An X' (which corresponds approximately to late September 1801 through late September 1802), which McDiarmid (pers. comm., 8/2016) dates to 1801, Latreille on p.190 mentions Lacépède's activities at the 'Institut national' and gives the scientific name Erpeton tentaculatus [sic], along with the same vernacular, 'Erpeton tentaculé.' Lacépède published a 5 page (pp.280-284, with 1 plate) description of the species, with the same scientific and vernacular names, in Annales du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, but this has an explicit cover date of 'An XI (1803),' so this work appears to post-date Latreille's. Additionally, etymology is from a Greek neuter word (Epsilon, rho, pi, epsilon, tau, nu), per Art. 30.1.2 the genus is neuter, so in consultation with McDiarmid, we are citing this name as Erpeton tentaculatum Lacépède in Latreille, 1801