107 



COLUBER FLAGELLIFORMIS. 



Plate XIX. 



Characters. Head elongated; supra-orbital plate projecting over the eye: body 

 very long and slender; the anterior part intense black, both above and below; the 

 middle mixed brown and white, the posterior part and tail whitish or chocolate- 

 colour. Tail one-fourth of total length. PI. 203 — Sc. 109. 



Synontmes. Anguis flagelliformis, Coach-whip Snake, Catesby, Carolina, &c. vol. ii. tab. 54. 

 Coach-whip snake, Bartram, Travels in Carolina and Florida, p. 219. 

 Coluber flagellum, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. iii. p. 475. 

 Coach-whip snake, Vulgo. 



Description. The head is elongated and narrow, the upper jaw projecting: the 

 vertical plate is pentagonal, larger in front, long and narrow, presenting an acute 

 angle backwards; the occipital plates are triangular, large, covering nearly the 

 whole of the posterior part of the head; the supra-orbital is very large, somewhat 

 quadrilateral, and projecting greatly over the eye; the posterior orbital are two in 

 number, the superior one extending upwards on the supra-orbital projection; and 

 immediately behind these are several scales taking the place of a temporal plate; 

 the anterior orbital are two in number, the lower very small, the upper one like- 

 wise expanding on the supra-orbital projection; the loral is short and wide; the 

 frontal plates are quadrilateral; the nasal nearly of the same form; the rostral plate 

 is very small, triangular, and rounded in front. The nostrils are lateral, large, 

 placed at the junction of two plates, and very near the snout: the eyes are very 

 large, but appear sunken in consequence of the projection of the supra-orbital 

 plate; the pupil is black, the iris dark gray. 



