64 



llEPTILIA. 



waters^ it feeds on frogs, insects, &c. and is eaten in several of 

 the provinces. 



There is a closely allied species in Sicily which is much 

 larger, and has a black collar, the Col. siculus, Nob. 



CoL viperinus, Latr.; La Viperine. Grey-brown; a suite of 

 black spots forming a zigzag along the back, and another of 

 smaller ocellated ones along the sides, a kind of colouring 

 which gives it a resemblance to the Viper; beneath chequered 

 with grey and black; scales carinated. 



Col. austriacus, Gm. ; La Lisse, Lacep. II, ii, 2. Brown-red; 

 marbled beneath with steel colour; two ranges of small blackish 

 spots along the back; scales smooth, each with a small brown 

 dot near the point. 



Col. atro-virens; La Verte etjaune^ Lacep. II, vi, 1. Spotted 

 with black and yellow above; beneath, of a greenish yellow; 

 scales smooth. 

 The south of France and Italy produce 



Col. girondicus, Daud., which has nearly the same colours as 

 the viperinus, but the scales are smooth, and the dorsal spots 

 smaller and more apart. 



CoL elaphis, Sh.; La Quatre-Faies, Lacep. II, vii, 1. Fawn 

 colour, with four brown or black lines on the back. It is the 

 largest of the European serpents, and sometimes exceeds six 

 feet. We have reason to think it is the Boa of Pliny. 



Col. Msculapii, Sh.(l) (The Serpent of ^Esculapius.) Stouter 

 than the elaphis, but not so long; brown above; straw colour 

 beneath and on the flanks; dorsal scales nearly smooth. Found 

 in Italy, Hungary, and Illyria. It is represented by the ancients 

 in their statues of jEsculapius, and the serpent of Epidaurus 

 Vi^as probably of this species. 

 The Colubers, foreign to Europe, are innumerable; some are re- 

 markable for the vividness of their colours, others for the regularity 

 of their distribution; the tints of several are tolerably uniform. But 

 few of them attain a very large size. (2) 



(1) N.B. The Col. .^sculapii, Lin. is a veiy different, and an American species. 



(2) The Colubers presenting' but few variations of structure that are interesting-, 

 I have not thought it necessary to enter into the long catalogue. It will be 

 found in the works of Merrem, Gmelin, Daudin, and Shaw. It is necessary, how- 

 ever, to consult them with much caution and critical nicety: they abound in trans- 

 positions of synonymes, &c. For instance, the Col. viridissimus and the Coljan- 

 thinus, Merr., I, xii, only differ from the effects of the spirit of wine; the Col. 

 horridus, Daud. Merr. II, x (Col. viperinus, Shaw), is the same as the demi-collier, 

 Lac, II, viii, 2; the Coul. violette, Lacep., II, viii, 1, and the Col. reginae, Mus. Ad, 



