Snakes of Jamaica. 417 
neither “ lutea’? (which, among Naturalists, signifies a golden- 
yellow, of which hue I have never seen a single scale in this species) 
nor “* maculis nigris notata,” for the spots are strictly not of a black, 
but of a dark blue colour. Oneof them (withthe more obtuse tail) I 
received alive, injured from bruises, but not lacerated; and from the 
great size of its abdomen, it seemed to be large with young. It was put 
into spirits withina very short time after it died; yet when I removed it 
into the cask, I was greatly disappointed at finding its abdomen in a most 
flaccid state. [nevertheless send it, (with two other specimens, much 
damaged about the head,) because certain parts or organs, being yet per- 
fect, may prove useful, especially the head, the tail, and the claws near 
the vent. These last are well defined and will, I hope, claim notice 
from Mr. Bell. I say this, because, although the claws in question are a 
remarkable character in the Boa tribe, they have never been well 
figured, so far as Iknow. The best of the attempts I am acquainted with 
is in Abel’s plate of ‘ the great Snake of Java,”’ p. 46 of his Voyage to 
China; but let his figure only be compared with the part in my speci- 
men, and its imperfections will strike you. A correct representation 
therefore of this character seems to bea desideratum, at least in English 
works of Natural History ; nor in the account of Professor Mayer’s in- 
vestigation of this particular structure among the ** phenopoda’’ of the 
Serpent race, given at p. 253, vol. I[l. of the Zoological Journal, is any 
mention made of figures to illustrate his descriptions. 
There isa peculiarity moreover of our Yellow Snake which is deserv- 
ing of attention: its pupil, during life, is linear and vertical. I have had 
several opportunities of observing the eye of this species, and, in one 
individual, I was able to watch it by day and by candle-light, for not less 
than six or seven weeks. The only variation I ever perceived from its 
usual form of a very narrow vertical line was upon one or two occasions 
(in the Snake first mentioned of the above three) when the length of the 
line was somewhat shortened, and its extremities slightly dilated, giving 
to the pupil a distant resemblance to an hour glass much lengthened out. 
As [have not seen any work or figure which alludes to any such form of 
the pupil among the Ophidia, (with the exception of Abyssinian Bruce’s 
Vou, V. RE 
