115 



COLUBER ERYTHROGRAMMUS.— Z>aw(?;». 



Flute XXII. 



Characters. Head short, depressed, small, and not distinct from the neck; 

 nostrils superior, and placed near the snout; eyes small, directed upwards; body 

 stout: superior surface bluish-black, with three longitudinal red lines, and a row 

 of bluish-black spots on each side of the abdomen: tail rather longer and more 

 slender than in the following species, one-eighth of total length. PI. 178 — Sc. 39. 



Synonymes. Coluber erythrogrammus, Daudin, Rept. , vol. vii. p. ^3, tab. S3, f. 2. 

 Natrix erythrogrammus, Merrem, Versuch eines Syst. der Amph., p. 117. 

 Helicops erythrogrammus, Wctgler, Natur. Syst. der Amph., p. 170. 



Description. The head is short and depressed, smaller than the neck; and the 

 mouth is also small. The vertical plate is short and pentangular, presenting an acute 

 angle backwards; the supra-orbital is narrow and almost a parallelogram in shape; 

 the occipital plates are large, irregularly triangular, the basis directed forwards 

 and rounded; the frontal plates are quadrangular, transverse, with the inferior and 

 posterior angle forming part of the orbit of the eye; there are two posterior orbital 

 plates, the upper one large, the lower very small; the anterior orbital plates 

 are wanting, but the loral supplies their place, and is narrow and elongated; the 

 nasal plates are two in number, small and trapezoidal; the nostril plates are also 

 somewhat trapezoidal; the rostral is very broad. The nostrils are small, superior 

 and placed near the snout. The eyes are very small, also superior and placed 

 near the snout; the pupil is black, and the iris grayish-red. The body is 

 somewhat depressed, elongated and fusiform, tapering at the head and tail. The 

 scales are all smooth and shining, broad, obtuse, and somewhat hexagonal on the 



