1 66 COLUBRID.E 



labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, 

 which are usually shorter than the posterior. 



Scales with two apical pits, in twenty-one (rarely 

 nineteen or twenty-three) rows, strongly keeled, of 

 outer row smooth or feebly keeled. Ventrals 147 to 

 164 ; anal divided ; subcaudals 46 to 72. 



Coloration. — Grey, brown, or reddish above with 

 two alternating series of dark brown or black spots 

 on the back, or with a black zigzag dorsal band 

 (Plate III., second figure), rarely with a single series 

 of black vertebral spots; a lateral series of black 

 spots, usually ocellar, with yellow centres ; upper 

 surface of head with dark symmetrical markings ; 

 a more or less distinct dark band on the temple, and 

 another on each side of the nape, often edged with 

 yellow in front ; upper lip yellow, with dark bars 

 on the sutures between the shields, or dark with a 

 yellow spot on each shield. Lower parts yellow or 

 red, checkered with black, or entirely black ; the 

 black of the belly may be connected with the ocellar 

 lateral spots by black vertical bars. Iris golden, 

 often mixed with brown. 



A specimen from Ponte Carrega, near Genoa, 

 preserved in the Genoa Museum, is remarkable as 

 being of a dark olive-grey, with three series of black 

 and yellow ocellar spots. It is further exceptional 

 in having the scales in nineteen rows. A second 

 specimen, from the same locality, with the normal 

 number of scales, has some of the vertebral spots 



