119 



COLUBER ^STIVUS.— Linrmus. 

 Plate XXVII. 



Characters. Head long, oval, pointed in front, and covered with plates; body 

 very long, slender, green, and covered with carinated scales above. PI. 160, sc. 

 140. 



Synonymes. Green snake, Catesb., Carolina, &c, vol. ii. p. 57, pi. lvii. 

 Coluber aestivus, Lin., Syst. Nat, vol. i. p. 3S7. 

 Coluber aestivus, Gmel., Syst. Nat. Lin., vol. i. part iii. p. 111. 

 La verdatre, Lacep., Hist, des Serp., torn. ii. p. 313. 

 Coluber aestivus, Latr., Hist, des Rept, torn. iv. p. 140. 

 Coluber aestivus, Daud., Hist. Nat. des Rept., torn. vii. p. 101. 

 Coluber aestivus, Harl., Med. and Phys. Res., p. 121. 

 Green snake, Vulgo. 



Description. The head is elongated, oval, narrow and pointed in front, and 

 covered with plates, of which the vertical is beautifully pentagonal, broadest in 

 front and pointed behind. The superior orbital is oblong, and projects but slightly 

 over the eye. The occipital plates are very large and irregularly pentagonal, 

 most extensive in the transverse direction. The anterior frontal are quadrilateral. 

 The rostral plate is semicircular, concave below and convex above. The nasal 

 plate is single on each side, regularly quadrilateral, and perforated in the centre 

 for the nostril. There are two large anterior orbital plates, and two smaller 

 posterior orbital. The inferior margin of the orbit is completed by the third and 

 fourth labial plates, which are six in number; the last is a parallelogram, and very 

 large. The nostrils are large and placed laterally. The eyes are large; the pupil 



