64 OUR REPTILES. 



its home, he says that it chooses in preference rocky 

 ground, overgrown with wood, secreting itself among 

 stones and thick moss. Though nowhere so common 

 as the ringed snake, several localities are named in 

 Saxony in which this species is found. 



This reptile belongs not only to a different genus, 

 but also to a different tribe of Colubrines, to the 

 ringed snake. Dr. Grunther's brief description of 

 the species is: — "Scales in twenty-one rows, and 

 scales bifid; upper labials seven. Brown. Back 

 with two (sometimes confluent) series of irregularly 

 rounded dark spots. Hinder maxillary tooth 

 smooth."* In size and appearance it approximates 

 more to the viper than the snake, but, like the 

 latter, is perfectly harmless. It never attains a 

 great length, the maximum being scarcely two feet. 

 " The head is but slightly distinct from the body ; 

 the tail short and strong at the base; the eyes 

 small ; the rostral plate presses much upon the 

 muzzle, and is of a triangular form, with its top 

 pointed ; there are seven labial plates on the upper 

 lip on each side, the third and fourth of which touch 

 upon the eye ; the scales of the body are smooth, 

 rhomboid, in nineteen longitudinal rows. The plates 

 on the belly number from 160 to 164; those on the 

 under surface of the tail from sixty to sixty-four 



* Dr. Gunther's " Catalogue of Reptiles in British Museum." 



