i86 



COLUBRID^: 



anterior chin-shields, which are nearly as long as 



the posterior. 



Scales smooth or faintly keeled, with two apical 



pits, in twenty-five or twenty-seven (rarely twenty- 

 three) rows. Ven- 

 tral shields not or 

 but very obtusely 

 angulate laterally, 

 172 to 214 ; anal 

 divided ; subcau- 

 dals 50 to 80. 



Coloratio n. — 

 Pale brown or 



Fig. 23 (after Sordelli) . , y . 



v greyish - olive 



above, with blackish cross-lines or dark brown or 

 reddish, black-edged spots, and usually two or three 

 more or less distinct pale longitudinal bands ; two 

 dark longitudinal stripes on the nape, usually united 

 on the head and terminating on the frontal shield ; a 

 curved dark cross-band from eye to eye, and another, 

 oblique, from the eye to the angle of the mouth. 

 Lower parts yellowish, usually dotted or spotted 

 with blackish. 



Size. — Seldom exceeds a length of 3 feet. The 

 largest specimen examined by me measures 37 

 inches. 



Distribution. — Across temperate Asia from Asia 

 Minor, Transcaucasia, and the southern border 

 of the Caspian Sea, to the Amur, Corea, and China. 



