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CORAL SNAKE. 65 
be exceedingly venomous in some districts, and at certain 
periods, while in other sections, and under different conditions, 
it may be innocuous. Facts prove such a conclusion to be 
entirely legitimate. 
The Coral Snake varies in length from 50 centimetres to 
1 metre. 
Body from 3 to 4 centimetres in diameter. Head somewhat broader 
than the body, somewhat flattened, and of the shape of two cones, joined 
at their bases with rounded apices; its superior surface covered by 11 
shields of a whitish color, separated by black lines, and arranged in 
transverse series, as follows, viz. : (commencing at the nares) ¢wo small 
ones ; two a little broader and wider; three still larger (in the edges and 
external periphery of the outer ones of which the eyes are placed) ; 
and, lastly, fowr still broader and wider. The shape, contour, number, 
and color of these scales is invariable in every individual of this species, 
male or female, pure or hybrid. 
In the female, the posterior third of the head is marked with an entire 
band of small black scales, broader on its posterior edge, with a narrow 
white ring; this band is followed by one of coral-red, 7 centimetres wide, 
and extending from side to side of the belly; next to this is a black 
- band, like the first, 2 centimetres wide, with a narrow white ring on 
each edge; this alternating one with another, there are from 12 to 
16 bands terminating with the anus, the caudal part being black. 
The del/y is whitish-red along its central axis, and shaded out to meet 
the bands in graduations of their respective colors. / 
The male is shorter and of smaller diameter than the female; head 
smaller, more flattened, and without the posterior black ring but from 
the posterior third of its length to the caudal extremity; body of a 
uniform coral-red color; belly reddish-white in both male and female; 
it is covered with from 150 to 200 scuta, slightly curved towards the 
head; subcaudal squame, 20 to 24 pairs, divided through their centre 
by an irregular line. 
Of more than fifty individuals of this variety examined in 
South America, the buccal parts are as follows, viz.: deprived 
of fangs; the triangular sac is wanting; one of the teeth 
(in the same relative position of the fang in the Rattlesnake, 
which is at the anterior third part of the longitudinal axis 
6 
