COLUBER 195 



post-oculars. Temporals 2 + 3 or 2 + 4. Upper 

 labials seven or eight (rarely nine), fourth or fourth 

 and fifth (or fifth and sixth) entering the eye. Four 

 or five lower labials in contact with the anterior chin- 

 shields, which may be either longer or shorter than 

 the posterior. 



Scales smooth, with two apical pits, in twenty-seven 

 (rarely twenty-five or twenty-nine) rows. Ventral 

 shields not angulate laterally, 201 to 220 ; anal 

 divided, rarely entire ; subcaudals 48 to 68. 



Coloration. — Young yellowish-grey, or pale brown, 

 above, with a series of regular H -shaped black or 

 blackish-brown markings along the back, forming a 

 ladder-like pattern — whence the name scalaris — and 

 small black spots on the sides ; a V-shaped black 

 marking on the snout, a black oblique streak from 

 the eye to the angle of the mouth, and a black spot 

 below the eye ; belly yellow, spotted or checkered 

 with black or nearly entirely black. These dorsal 

 markings disappear in the adult, and are replaced by 

 a pair of brown stripes running along the back 

 (Plate VIII.); the belly loses the black markings, 

 and becomes uniform yellow. Iris dark brown. 



Size. — Grows to a length of 3! feet, exception- 

 ally 4J feet. 



Distribution. — The Mediterranean coast of France, 

 Spain and Portugal, and Minorca. Its occurrence in 

 Algeria is very doubtful. 



Habits. — Not uncommon near the coast in France, 



