THE COLUBRINE SNAKES 



2569 



of about four feet, but is generally smaller. In ground color the head and nape are 

 grayish yellow, the back and tail greenish, and the under parts yellow, upon them 

 being black markings, which, while irregular above, form regular oblique bars in- 

 feriorly, and in the hinder part of the body are arranged in longitudinal stripes 

 which continue to the end of the tail. In some specimens, however, the ground 

 color of the upper parts is a beautiful yellowish green, while on the lower surface 

 it is canary yellow; in a third variety the whole upper surface is uniform olive 

 brown, and in some cases it is completely black, the under surface of the body being 

 gray, with a steely-blue lustre on the sides and the whole of the under parts. This 



THE DARK GREEN SNAKE. 

 (One-fourth natural size. ) 



snake is very abundant in Italy, and may be met with in most gardens in the 

 neighborhood of Rome. Its habits vary to a certain extent according to locality; 

 while in the Russian steppes it frequents the hottest and driest spots, in Dalmatia 

 and the Tyrol it is found in sunny, although by no means dry situations, either in 

 woods or among old buildings. 



The other European species is the horseshoe snake (Z. hippocrepis) , 

 common both to Southern Europe and Northern Africa, and repre- 

 sented in the lower figure of the illustration on p. 2570. From its 

 allies it is distinguished by the presence of a series of small suborbital shields 





