85 



COLUBER \ER^ ALIS.— Dekuy. 



Plate XV. 



Characters. Head small, oval; snout rounded; body elongated, cylindrical, 

 covered above with smooth, oblong, rhomboidal scales; grass-green above, 

 yellowish-white below. PI. 128— Sc. 89. 



Synonymes. Coluber veralis, Dekay, MS. 



Coluber vernalis, Harl., Med. and Phys. Res., p. 124. 



Description. The head is small, oval, with the snout somewhat rounded; the 

 vertical plate is pentagonal, very large, and broadest in front; the superior 

 orbital is elongated, quadrilateral, narrow before, broader behind, and slightly 

 projecting over the eye; the occipital plates are very large, pentagonal, and 

 broadest before; the frontals are large, broad and pentagonal; the anterior 

 frontals are smaller and quadrilateral; the rostral plate is short, broad, pen- 

 tagonal, rounded above and in front, and slightly concave below; there are two 

 nasal plates, elongated and quadrilateral; the anterior lunated behind, and the 

 posterior concave before, to accommodate the nostril, which is large, lateral, and 

 near the snout; there are two quadrilateral anterior orbitals, with a single square 

 loral plate; the posterior orbitals are two in number, small and quadrilateral; the 

 inferior wall of the orbit is completed by the third and fourth superior labials, of 

 which plates there are seven on each side, quadrilateral, and increasing in size 

 from the chin towards the angle of the mouth. The eyes are large and bright; 

 the pupil black; the iris golden. The neck is contracted. 



The body is cylindrical, and covered above with small elongated, rhomboidal. 



