SNAKES. 99 



d. Half-grown. Peraambuco. Presented bv J. P. G. Smith, 



Esq. 



e. Young. Pernambuco. Presented by J. P. G. Smith, Esq. 

 /. Adult. Demerara. From Mr. Snellgrove's Collection. 



g. Adult : male. Berbice. 



h. Adult. Trinidad. 



i. Adult. ? Presented by the Zoological Society. 



Var. 1. Tail black. 



Spilotes melanurus, Dum. Sf Bibr. p. 224. 



k. Adult. New Orleans. From Mr. Cuming's Collection. 

 /. Young : injured. Mexico. From Hugo Finck's Collection. 



Var. 2. Uniform black. 



m. Adult : injured. Mexico. From Hugo Finck's Collection. 

 n. Half-grown. Mexico. From Hugo Finck's Collection. 



Var. 3. Blackish ash, with whitish cross bands. 



o-q. Half-grown : not good' state. Mexico. From Hugo 



Finck's Collection, 

 r. Young. Mexico. From Hugo Finck's Collection. 



5. Spilotes variabilis. 



Coluber novse hispaniae, Seba, ii. 20. 1, & 105. 4; Scheuchzer, 

 Phys. Sacr. t. 747. f. 3, & t. 662. f. 11. Coluber pullatus, Linn. 

 Mus. Ad. Fried, t. 20. f. 3. Cerastes mexicanus and C. coronatus, 

 Laurenti, Synops. Rept. p. 83. Coluber mexicanus, Gmel. Syst. 

 Nat. p. 1088. Coluber plutonius, Daud. Rept. vi. p. 324 ; Merr. 

 Beitr. t. 12. Coluber caninana, Merr. Tent. p. 121. Coluber 

 variabilis, Neuwied, Beitr. p. 271, 276, and Abhildg. 1. 14. f. 3-6 ; 

 Boie, Isis, 1827, p. 537. Spilotes pullatus, Wagl. Syst. Amph. 

 p. 179; Fitz. Syst. Rept. p. 26; Schleg. Ess. t. 6. f. 1, 2. Spi- 

 lotes variabilis, Dum. Sf Bibr. vii. p. 220. 



Body compressed, slender. Scales with a strong keel in fifteen 

 rows ; two posterior oculars. Above with alternating black and 

 white or yellow, oblique, irregular cross bands; head above 

 black with white spots, or white with black spots ; labial shields 

 always black-edged ; beneath white, with a few black transverse 

 streaks. 



A. White colour predominant. 



a. Adult. Mexico. From Mr. Warwick's Collection. 



b. Adult. Mexico. Presented by the Zoological Society. 



c. Adult : bleached. ? 



