SNAKES. 265 
base: the rostral shield, which is pointed behind, projects con- 
siderably, and the snout is pointed; the loreal is longer than 
deep; there is one pree-ocular, and there are two or three post- 
oculars, seven or eight upper labials, and four or five lower ones. 
The smooth scales are nearly always arranged in twenty-seven 
rows; the ventral shields number from 201 to 220, and the sub- 
caudals, in pairs, from forty-eight to sixty-eight, and the anal 
scute is generally divided. The colour of the Snake above is 
reddish, yellowish, or pale brown, marked by two black lines 
running down the whole length of the body; these two lines are 
joined at almost equal distances by broader black lines, and thus 
a series of H-shaped markings is formed. There are small black 
spots on the sides. The above markings often disappear with 
age—especially, it is said, in the case of males—and are then 
replaced by two brown stripes which run down the back. The 
underparts are yellowish white, rarely marked with blackish 
spots. The animal when full grown is about 3ft. long, and 
the tail is short and conical. C. scalaris may be bought, when 
on the market, for from 4s. to 7s. 
The Bull Snake (Coluber melanoleucus Daud., or Pituophis Say, 
Baird) is one of the largest and most active of the North American 
Colubers. It has received its English name from a supposed 
power of being able to roar like a bull. Some writers have gone 
so far as to say that it can make a noise like that of thunder. 
The Snake, before it makes the sound which has given it the 
above title, is said to inflate itself slowly with air, until it is 
double its usual girth, and then by expirmg makes its strange 
noise. Of course, a large and angry Snake can make consider- 
able noise by expelling air forcibly from its lung, but I doubt 
very much whether any Snake could make a sound like that of 
thunder or the roaring of a bull. I have heard friends remark 
that the hissing of a savage Boa Constrictor of my own reminded 
them of a railway engine blowing off steam, and such a remark 
I can understand; but I do not understand how the sibilant 
sound made by a hissing Snake can ever fairly be likened either 
to the roaring of a bull or to a clap of thunder. I should be 
glad to possess a C. melanoleucus which could, and would, roar 
like a bull. I cannot, however, say that the Bull Snake does 
