50 COLUBRID/E. 



Matrix torquata, Ray, Syn. Quad. p. 334. Flem. Brit. An. p. 156. Jenyns, 



Brit. Vert. p. 296. Bonap. Faun. Ital. cum figuris. 

 Coluber natrix, Linn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 380. Shaw, Gen. Zool. III. p. 519. 



Latr. Hist. Rept. IV. p. 38. Daud. Hist. Rept. VII. p. 



34, t. lix. f. 15 ; t. lxxxii. f. 1. Turt. Brit. Faun. p. 81. 

 „ torquatus, Lacep. Quad. Ovip. et Serp. II. p. 147, t. vi. f. 2. 

 Natrix vulgaris, Laur. Spec. Med. p. 75 et 80. 



Tropidonotus natrix, Kuhl. — Fitzings. Prod. Faun. Aust. p. 326. Wagl. Syst. 



Amph. p. 179. Gray, in Griff. An. Kingd. IX. p. 85. 

 Ringed Snake, Pexn. Brit. Zool. III. p. 33, t. iv. No. 13. 



Couleuvre a Collier, Lacep. 1. c. 



The family of Colubrida, to which our Common Snake 

 belongs, is one of the most extensive of all the natural 

 groups of reptiles. It includes a number of generic di- 

 visions, some more and some less- strongly marked, which 

 are found in every quarter of the globe. They are, all of 

 them, perfectly free from any poisonous quality, not pos- 

 sessing any of those tubular teeth or poison glands which 

 render some other families of Serpents so formidable. 

 Many of the species which, on account of the broad plates 

 which are found to occupy the upper part of the head, were 

 considered as belonging to the genus Coluber, by Linneus 

 and his immediate followers, are to be referred, not to 

 other genera only, but to other families ; as the Cobra di 

 Capello, and the Common Viper, for instance. 



To this family, then, belong those Serpents, and those 

 only, which, in addition to the absence of poisonous fangs, 

 have the head covered with broad plates, and the under 

 side of the tail with divided scuta throughout its whole 

 length, as shewn in the following figures, which are taken 

 from the present species. 



It is by far the most common of our true reptilia, if we 

 except the little Lizard, Zootoca mvipara. It inhabits all 

 our woods, and heaths, and hedgerows, especially in the 

 neighbourhood of water, feeding upon young birds, and 

 even eggs, or mice, and other small quadrupeds, and 



