82 COLUBEREXIMIUS. 



from the rostral plate to the angle of the mouth; of these the third and fourth 

 make the inferior wall of the orbit of the eye. The nostrils are large, near the 

 snout and lateral, but open a little upwards. The eyes are large; the pupil 

 dusky; the iris pale grey. The neck is slightly contracted. 



The body is elongated, but tolerably robust, and covered with smooth, rather 

 small, hexagonal scales above, and with broad plates below. The tail is rather 

 short, thick at its root, but soon becomes cyhndrical and smaller, ending in a 

 horny tip. 



Colour, The Coluber eximius resembles somewhat the Coluber guttatus in the 

 disposition of its colours, though it varies greatly from it in its tints; the ground 

 colour of the whole superior surface of the animal is a shining milky-white, often 

 with a reddish tinge; the anterior part of the head is marked with a few not very 

 distinct dusky spots, and has a well marked transverse dusky band reaching 

 from the anterior extremity of one superior orbital plate to the other, and 

 occupying about half the posterior part of the frontal plates; another line, smaller, 

 but of similar colour, descends backwards to the angle of the mouth; the crown 

 of the head, as well as its occipital region and neck, is occupied by a large dusky 

 blotch, with a small white spot near its anterior border, and a larger one, 

 elongated, resembling somewhat the letter V in its centre; this dark blotch is so 

 arranged as to leave before it a transverse white bar, which includes the two 

 posterior thirds of the superior-orbital plates, from the posterior part of which 

 descends on each side over the temples a lateral line of similar colour to behind 

 the angle of the mouth. The upper lip is milky-white, with the posterior part of 

 each plate margined with dusky. The body above is milky-white, often tinged 

 with red; along the vertebral line is a series of ovoid dusky blotches, sometimes 

 with irregular margins, and always bordered with black, and most extensive in 

 the transverse direction, in which it differs from the Coluber guttatus. These 

 blotches are sometimes so extensive that they give the serpent an appearance of 

 being banded with black and white: alternating with these dusky bars on the flanks 



