﻿202 COLUBRID.E 



cability; it can be trained to feed in the hand of 

 its master. 



Reproduction. — The Smooth Snake pairs in early 

 spring, and is ovoviviparous. The young, two to 

 fifteen in number, are born late in August or in 

 September, enveloped by a thin membrane which 

 they tear immediately ; they measure 5 to 6 inches. 

 Embryos 3J or 4 inches long have the scaling and 

 the characteristic markings fully developed, but the 

 scales and shields much abbreviated, the former 

 broader than long. A dicephalous young is preserved 

 in the Bosnian Museum at Sarajev, and another 

 was caught near Karlsruhe, in Germany, in 1881, 

 and kept alive for sometime. According to Rollinat, 

 a second autumnal pairing sometimes takes place in 

 France. 



15. CoRONELLA GiRONDiCA, Daudin 

 [Coluber riccioli, Metaxa) 

 The Southern Smooth Snake 

 Distinguished from the preceding by a somewhat 

 more slender form, a more obtuse, scarcely prominent 

 snout, a much lower rostral shield, which is con- 

 siderably broader than deep and just visible from 

 above, not penetrating between the internasals, con- 

 stantly eight upper labials, fourth and fifth entering 

 the eye, and the scales in twenty-one (rarely nine- 

 teen or twenty-three) rows. Ventrals 170 to 200 ; 

 anal divided ; subcaudals 49 to 72. 



