93 



COLUBER FASCIATUS.— Linnceus. 



Plate XX. 



Characters. Head large, elongated, flattened, broader behind, rounded at the 

 snout, and covered with plates; body elongated, thick, covered with carinated 

 scales, dusky, with about thirty oblong or triangular marks of red on the flanks. 



Synonymes. Coluber fasciatus, Lin., Syst. Nat., vol. i. p. 378. 



Coluber porcatus, Latr., Hist, des Rept., torn. iv. p. 82, pi. xxix. fig. 1. 

 Coluber porcatus, Daud., Hist. Nat. des Rept., torn. vii. p. 204. 

 Coluber porcatus, Bosc, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., torn. viii. p. 264. 

 Coluber porcatus, Harl., Med. and Phys. Res., p. 119. 



Description. The head is flattened and much elongated, broader behind, and 

 rounded at the snout; its superior surface is covered with plates. Of these, the 

 vertical is pentagonal, largest in front and pointed posteriorly; the superior orbital 

 are elongated and quadrilateral, with their outer margins prominent; the occipital 

 are very large, irregularly oblong, broadest internally. The frontal plates are 

 pentagonal, smallest without; the anterior frontal are smaller, trigonal, with their 

 apices directed forwards, and truncate. The rostral is semicircular, concave 

 below, convex above. The two nasal plates are quadrilateral; the anterior concave 

 behind, and the posterior concave in front. There is but one anterior orbital 

 plate, which is very large, quadrilateral, and reaching from the frontal to the 

 labial line. There are two posterior orbital plates; the superior is the largest. 

 This and the anterior orbital plate is prolonged to form a large portion of the 

 inferior part of the walls of the orbit, which is completed by a narrow infra- 

 orbital plate, resting on the labial row. There are eight labial plates, increasing 



