113 



COLUBER QUADRIVITTATUS. 



Plate XXL 



Characters. Body veiy long, above greenish clay-colour, with four longitudinal 

 brown bands; beneath yellowish: head distinct; scales on the back carinated, on 

 the flanks smooth; tail one-fifth of total length. PI. 233 — Sc. 90. 



Sy^-ontme. Chicken snake, Bartram, Travels in Florida, &c., p. 275. 



Description. The plates on the head and the scales throughout are entirely the 

 same as in C. Alleghaniensis; except that perhaps the nasal plates are a little 

 larger, and the carina of the dorsal scales less obvious: The size of the eye and 

 position of the nostrils are also the same; but the tail is longer in proportion. 

 There are about sixteen rows of carinated scales on the back, and about three on 

 each side that are smooth. The abdomen during life, often presents a plane 

 surface, at right angles with the flanks. Abdominal plates 233, and 90 pairs of 

 subcaudal scales. 



Colours. In its colours however, this snake differs widely from the other, 

 and the pattern is invariable so far as my observation extends. The whole 

 superior surface in the young animal is of a greenish clay-colour, marked 

 with four longitudinal dark brown stripes, the two superior ones reaching from 

 the occiput to the extremity of the tail. In old individuals the general colour is 

 brown, and the dark longitudinal bands are less obvious. The inferior surface is 

 yellowish throughout, sometimes a little clouded towards the sides. The scales of 

 the back and sides are frequently sprinkled with minute blackish dots, and many have 

 Vol. I.— 15 



