2568 SCALED REPTILES 



and whereas the shields on the inferior aspect of the body are rounded, those beneath 

 the tail are arranged in a double series. 



The smooth snake, which attains a length of about twenty-five inches, is very 

 variable in coloration, but the ground color of the upper parts is generally brown. 

 The most distinctive features are a large dark spot on the neck, often extending 

 into a stripe, and two rows of dark brown spots arranged in pairs, and running 

 down the body; there is also a dark stripe passing through the eye and the side of 

 the neck, while the under parts are either steely blue, or reddish yellow and white, 

 in some cases spotted with black. This snake is found over the greater part of 

 Europe, and is occasionally met with in some of the southern counties of England. 

 Although now and then found in damp or swampy localities, it frequents dry stony 

 places where there is plenty of sunshine, resorting sometimes to old stone bridges 

 and heaps of building material. Like its congeners, this snake is chiefly terrestrial 

 in its habits; in disposition it is fierce, and its prey consists of other snakes and 

 lizards. In the end of August or beginning of September the smooth snake lays 

 from three to thirteen eggs, which are so far developed that the included young al- 

 most immediately break the shells and escape. 



Nearly allied to the preceding are the ophidians which (from 

 their German name zornschlangen] we may term fierce snakes; these 

 demanding special notice on account of their having several representatives in 

 Southern Europe. From the preceding genus they may be distinguished by the 

 more slender form of the body, and the presence on the head of one or more sub- 

 oculars below the preocular shield; while the arrangement of the longitudinal rows 

 of scales in odd numbers differentiates them from an allied genus. The number of 

 teeth in the hinder upper jawbone varies from twe'lve to twenty; the head is long 

 and distinct from the neck, with the eye of moderate size or large, and its pupil 

 round. The body is elongated and cylindrical, with the smooth or slightly keeled 

 and pitted scales arranged in from fifteen to thirty-one rows. On the lower surface 

 of the body the shields are rounded, or obtusely keeled on the sides, and the long 

 tail has two inferior rows of shields. The fierce snakes are represented by some 

 twenty species, ranging over Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa, several of them 

 occurring on the Continent, although none are met with in the British Islands. 

 Their headquarters may be considered to be the countries surrounding the Mediter- 

 ranean basin. Deriving their name from the fierce and bold demeanor of the ma- 

 jority of their representatives, these snakes are terrestrial or partially arboreal in 

 their habits, and feed chiefly on small mammals and birds. Of the European forms, 

 a well-known example is the dark green snake (Zamensis gemonensis], inhabiting 

 Hungary and the Mediterranean countries, and extending as far north as the south 

 of Switzerland; in the east it is represented by a variety known as the Balkan snake, 

 which attains a larger size than the typical form. These snakes are distinguished 

 from their allies by the regular arrangement of the shields on the head, and the 

 presence of two preorbital shields, of which the lower is small -and placed in the line 

 of the labials; and they are further characterized by the relative shortness of the 

 tail, which scarcely reaches a fourth of the total length. The smooth scales are ar- 

 ranged in from seventeen to nineteen rows. The ordinary form may attain a length 



