52 



OPHIDIAN EEPTILES. 



its box, and crawl under the sleeve of his coat, and every morning 

 come to him for its draught of milk.] 



The Green and Yellow Snake is also about a yard in length, and 

 is common in the south and west of France ; they have been 

 taken in the forest of Fontainebleau. The beautiful colours in 

 which they are clothed causes them to be easily distinguished 

 from the Viper. The eyes are edged with golden- coloured scales ; 

 the upper part of the body is of a very dark greenish colour, 

 upon which is extended a large number of radiating lines, com- 

 posed of small yellowish spots of different shapes, some long, 

 others lozenge shape, giving it a chequered appearance. These 



Fig. 12.— Tropidonotus vipei-inus. 



chequers extend from the head to the tail. The belly is yel- 

 lowish ; the large plates which cover it have a black spot at each 

 end, and are bordered with a very thin black line. This inoffen- 

 sive reptile is extremely timid, and generally hides itself from 

 observation, taking to flight at the least alarm. They are said 

 to be easily tamed. 



The Yiperine Snake (Fig. 12) has the body of a greyish or 

 dirty yellow colour, having on th-e middle of the back a series of 

 blackish spots so close to each other as to give the idea of one 

 small continuous wavy line from head to tail. The sides are 

 covered with isolated spots, forming lozenge-like figures, the 

 centres of which are of a greenish tint. This is the smallest of all 



