THE COLUBRI.NE SNAKES 257$ 



Among the largest of European ophidians is the four-rayed snake ( C. quatuor- 

 radiatus) , which attains a length of between six and seven feet, and is of an olive- 

 brown or flesh-colored hue above, often marked with a pair of longitudinal blackish- 

 brown stripes, a black line running from the eye to the mouth, and the under parts 

 being straw yellow. There are, however, many variations from this typical colora- 

 tion, some specimens being entirely black, while the young generally have black 

 cross bands on the head, three rows of large brown spots on the back, the sides like- 

 wise spotted, and the under parts with a blackish steel-gray tinge. The distinctive 

 specific characteristics are the presence of a small preorbital shield on the head; the 

 arrangement of the scales of the middle of the body in from twenty-three to twenty- 

 five longitudinal rows these scales being smooth in the young but strongly keeled 

 in the adult and the divided anal shield. The distributional area of this snake 

 includes the whole of Southern and Southeastern Europe, from Lower Italy and 

 Dalmatia to Turkey, as well as Greece and the adjacent islands, and extends to the 

 interior of Asia Minor, but there is some doubt whether the species occurs in 

 the Caucasian region. All observers are in accord that the four-rayed snake is not 

 only harmless but useful, since it destroys rats, mice, voles, and smaller snakes. It 

 also preys upon moles, lizards, and small birds. 



Another Europeon species of the family is the black-marked snake 

 (Coluber scalaris], which belongs to a separate group characterized by 

 the following features: The rostral shield of the head is of a large 

 size, convex, and pointed in front, while it extends backward between the prefrontal 

 shields, where it terminates in a point. The tail is relatively shorter than in the 

 typical group. The black-marked snake, formerly separated as Rhinechis, and rep- 

 resented in the upper figure of the illustration on p. 2570 has the cylindrical body 

 relatively thick, the tail short and blunted, and the flattened head broad behind and 

 sharp in front. The body scales, which are arranged in from twenty-five to twenty- 

 nine rows, are long, four sided, and smooth; the shields on the under surface of the 

 body are bent at the edges, and those beneath the tail form a double series. As re- 

 gards color, there is much variation, the ground color varying from bright gray or 

 greenish gray, through reddish or yellowish brown, to olive or reddish yellow; while 

 the markings of the head often take the form of a perpendicular black streak 

 through the eye, and another from the eye to the mouth, the neck having a dark 

 cross band, and a row of similar spots running down the back, beneath which are an- 

 other series of smaller ones, followed inferiorly by a third and fourth row. With 

 age these spots tend gradually to disappear, till finally there remain only two dark 

 brown or blackish rows running from the neck to the tip of the tail. In length this 

 snake measures rather more than four feet. Everywhere rare, the black-marked 

 snake seems to be confined to Spain and the opposite parts of Africa. While re- 

 sembling the climbing snakes in the general nature of its food, it also preys upon 

 grasshoppers; and it will follow voles and mice into their burrows. A good 

 climber, it is stated to be more rapid in its movements than any other of the Euro- 

 pean snakes, and its keenness of vision is remarkable. 



Whereas the preceding members of the family only climb trees in search of 

 food the American wood snakes are purely arboreal forms, especially adapted by 



