INNOCUOUS SERPENTS. 143 



water. They equally delight in the warm and temperate 

 climates of both worlds ; but we only know a single species 

 in Southern Africa, and they appear to be absolutely wanting 

 in New Holland. The abdominal plates are necessarily 

 very numerous. Their dorsal scales generally are slightly 

 carinated. The majority have tw^o posterior ocular plates. 

 This genus is very rich in species. 



1. Coluber ^scuLAPii, of central and southern Europe, 

 has twenty-one rows of scales, of an olive-brown, wath a 

 pale-coloured collar ; below it is yellowish. S. 228 + 79- 



2. Coluber constrictor. Allied to the preceding in 

 shape ; but it has seventeen rows of scales, and a dark, 

 uniform leaden colour. S. 183 4- 94. Inhabits the United 

 States of North America. 



3. Coluber radiatus has a more light make than 

 usual ; above of a clear brown, relieved by four longi- 

 tudinal dark rays ; occiput marked by a transverse band ; 

 19 rows of scales. S. 230 + 88. Country, Cochin-China, 

 the Isles of Sumatra, and Java. 



4. Coluber subradiatus replaces the last in the Isle 

 of Timor, and is very like it ; but its colours are deeper, 

 and it wants the occipital band ; the rays are interrupted, 

 and its smaller scales are disposed in 23 rows. S. 

 235 + 90. 



6. Coluber Blumenbachii presents a slight form, and 

 a slender tail. The head is more distinct from the neck 

 than in all the preceding species ; the eye more volumi- 

 nous ; the abdomen is angular and furnished with very 

 broad scuta ; the ba.ck is slightly carinated, and the scales 

 are arranged in 17 rows, more oblique than in the other 

 species. S. 200 + 125. Above, olive-brown, verging on 

 yellow, and adorned with dark narrow transverse bands, 

 often very obsolete, irregular, or interlaced. Scales edged 

 with black. This species is found in Malabar, Bengal, and 

 Java. 



6. Coluber Korros. Very analogous to the preceding, 

 from which it differs by more narrow labial plates, and a 

 shorter muzzle, a head less high, a trunk less compressed, 

 and more elongated. S. 170 + 120. 15 Rows of scales. 

 Inhabits Java and Sumatra. 



