202 COLUBRID.E 



cability; it can be trained to feed in the hand of 

 its master. 



Reproduction. — The Smooth Snake pairs in early 

 spring, and is ovoviviparous. The young, two to 

 fifteen in number, are born late in August or in 

 September, enveloped by a thin membrane which 

 they tear immediately ; they measure 5 to 6 inches. 

 Embryos 3 J or 4 inches long have the scaling and 

 the characteristic markings fully developed, but the 

 scales and shields much abbreviated, the former 

 broader than long. Adicephalous young is preserved 

 in the Bosnian Museum at Sarajev, and another 

 was caught near Karlsruhe, in Germany, in 1881, 

 and kept alive for sometime. According to Rollinat, 

 a second autumnal pairing sometimes takes place in 

 France. 



15. Coronella girondica, Daudin 



{Coluber riccioli, Metaxa) 



The Southern Smooth Snake 



Distinguished from the preceding by a somewhat 

 more slender form, a more obtuse, scarcely prominent 

 snout, a much lower rostral shield, which is con- 

 siderably broader than deep and just visible from 

 above, not penetrating between the internasals, con- 

 stantly eight upper labials, fourth and fifth entering 

 the eye, and the scales in twenty-one (rarely nine- 

 teen or twenty-three) rows. Ventrals 170 to 200 ; 

 anal divided ; subcaudals 49 to 72. 



