﻿172 COLUBRIDJE 



with blackish cross-bars or numerous small black 

 spots, the black scales with a yellowish shaft, the 

 lower parts yellowish-white dl" pale yellow, rarely 

 more orange ; the sides of the head are yellow, the 

 shields edged with blackish. A female, 3J feet long, 

 from Levico, Trentino, preserved in the Genoa 

 Museum, is uniform reddish-brown above, with mere 

 traces of darker markings on the head and nape. 

 There is every gradation between this form and the 

 var. viridiflavus or atrovirens (Plate IV., third figure), 

 which is dark green or black above, with yellow spots 

 forming transverse series or bars on the anterior 

 part of the body, and longitudinal streaks, following 

 the series of scales, on the posterior part and on the 

 tail ; the yellow sometimes predominates over the 

 black, or may appear as a shaft along each dark 

 scale ; the preocular and postocular shields are 

 yellow, the labials likewise yellow, with black spots 

 or bars. The lower parts are yellow or greenish- 

 white, with or without black dots, and usually with 

 a series of large black spots on each side. 



Some specimens of both the typical form and the 

 var. viridiflavus are entirely black or nearly black 

 (Z. carbonarius, Bonaparte; Z. sardiis, Suckow). In 

 some localities and islands only black specimens 

 occur. 



In the var. caspius, Iwan {irabalis, Pallas, Plate V., 

 first figure ; persicus, Jan, Plate IV., second figure), 

 from Hungary, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Corfu, Bui- 



