SNAKES 157 



which are more or less distinctly grooved. The genus, 

 which comprises two species only, extends over Southern 

 Europe, South-Western Asia, and North Africa. 



The MoNTPELLiER Snake, C. monspessulana, which 

 attains six feet in length, is olive brown, yellowish, or 

 reddish above, with or without dark, hght-edged spots ; 

 the sides are usually blackish, with whitish dots. The 

 snake, which has a wide range, being distributed in Southern 

 Europe, eastwards to the Caucasus and Persia, lives in low 

 bushes and seems to have a preference for the neighbour- 

 hood of human habitations. Although seldom attempting 

 to bite, the poison of the Montpellier Snake is fairly active, 

 its action having been shown to bear a striking similarity 

 to that of Cobra poison. The eggs, four to twelve in 

 number, are laid in July. 



In Macroprotodon, of Spain, Portugal, the Balearic 

 Islands, and North Africa, the teeth are few and very 

 unequal in size, the two posterior being fang-like and 

 grooved. The genus is represented by a single species, 

 M. cucullatus, which bears a striking resemblance to the 

 Southern Smooth Snake, Coronella girotidica, and with 

 which it is frequently confounded ; like the latter snake it 

 feeds almost exclusively on lizards. It is usually considered 

 fairly harmless. 



The eight species of the semi-nocturnal genus Tarbophis, 

 inhabiting South-Eastern Europe, South-Western Asia, 

 and Tropical and North Africa, have the anterior teeth of 

 the upper jaw longest ; a pair of large grooved fangs are 

 situated below the posterior border of the eye. The body 

 is slender and moderately elongate ; the eye is rather large, 

 with a vertical pupil. 



