107 
HELICOPS —Wagter. 
Genus Hericors.—Cuaracrers. Head smaller than the neck, depressed; eyes 
superior; loral plate wanting; superior orbital plates not projecting; posterior 
orbital two; anterior single; mouth inferior, ascending at the angle; three or 
four posterior maxillary teeth largest; body robust, and covered above with 
smooth scales. 
HELICOPS ERYTHROGRAMMUS.—Daudin. 
Plate XXV. 
Cuaracters. Head short, depressed, small, and not distinct from the neck; 
nostrils superior, and placed near the snout; eyes small, directed upwards; body 
stout; superior surface bluish-black, with three longitudinal red lines, and a row 
of bluish-black spots on each side of the abdomen; tail short, one-eighth of total 
length. Pl. 178. Se. 39. 
Synonymes. Coluber erythrogrammus, Daudin, Rept., vol. vii. p. 93, tab. 83, f. 2. 
Natrix erythrogrammus, Merrem, Versuch eines Syst. der Amphib., p. 117. 
Helicops erythrogrammus, Wagler, Natiirlich. Syst. der Amphib., p. 170. 
Description. The head is short and depressed, smaller than the neck; and the 
mouth is also small. The vertical plate is short and pentagonal, presenting an 
acute angle backwards; the superior orbital is narrow and almost a parallelogram 
in shape; the occipital plates are large, polygonal, and broadest before; the 
frontal plates are quadrilateral, large, with the inferior and posterior angle 
forming a small part of the orbit of the eye; there are two posterior orbital 
