272 CLASS xv. 



-. 



spinous processes of some of the anterior vertebras produced 

 into the oesophagus, directed forwards, acute, supplying the office 

 of teeth. Posterior ocular scutes two; frenal scute none. Scales 

 lanceolate, carinate. Tail short. 



Sp. Rachiodon scdber JOUEDAN, Coluber scaber L. Mus. Ad. Frid. Tab. x. 

 fig. i, MERR. Beitr. I. Tab. 9, (REINHARDT has given a figure of the 

 Cranium, Danske Vidensk. Selsk. naturvidensk. og math. Afhandl. x. 

 1843, Tab. I. fig. 24); comp. p. 207, note. This species is from South 

 Africa. LINNAEUS described it as edentulous ; such was also the opinion of 

 Dr A. SMITH, who named this genus Anodon. This snake lives upon birds' 

 eggs ; these, "from the almost edentulous state of the jaws, glide along the 

 mouth nearly unbroken, and it is not until they have reached the gullet 

 and the mouth is closed and prevents the escape of the nutritious matter 

 that the shell is exposed to instruments adapted to its perforation. The 

 shell having been sawed open longitudinally by the vertebral teeth, the 

 eggs are crushed by the contraction of the gullet and carried to the 

 stomach." Comp. OWEN Odontography, pp. 220, 221. DUMERIL and 

 BIBRON describe another species of this genus, Rachiodon abyssinus, Herpet. 

 PI. 81. 



Lycodon Bo-IE, FITZ. Head depressed, narrowed in front of 

 eyes, with snout obtuse. Anterior teeth -in both jaws longer than 

 the rest. 



Sp. Lycodon Hebe BOIE, Coluber Hebe BAUD, (and Coluber aulicus KUSSELL, 

 I. Tab. 21, LINN. Mus. Ad. Frid. Tab. 12, fig. 2; East Indies). 



Note. Some species have the scutella of the abdominal surface of 

 the tail in a single row (subcaudal scutes undivided). Such is Ly- 

 codon lineatus KEINH. 1. 1. Tab. i. fig. 19. DUMERIL and BIBRON 

 form from these species the genera Cyclocorus and Cercaspis. 



Herpetrodryas BoiE, ScHLEG., Herpetodrys WAGL. Head 

 narrow, elongate, rounded towards the apex. Teeth equal, or 

 posterior superior, larger, but not separated from the rest. Eyes 

 large, pupil round. Posterior ocular scutes two, more rarely 

 three. Body compressed. Tail slender, elongate. 



Sp. Herpetodryas carinata SCHLEG., Coluber carinatus L. (and Coluber fuscus 

 ejusd.), LINN. Mus. Ad. Frid. Tab. 17, fig. i, MERREM Beytr. i. Tab. x. 

 MAXIM. Pr. v. WIED, Abb. Liefer. VIII. ; in Brasil and Surinam; whilst in 

 all other species of snakes an unpaired row of scales lies on the back, there 

 are in this species two rows of scales in the middle. Herpetodryas lineata 

 SCHLEG., Lygophris lineatus FITZ., Coluber lineatus L. Mus. Ad. Frid. 

 Tab. 12, fig. T, Tab. 20, fig. i, SEBA Thesaur. n. Tab. 12, fig. 3; from 

 Surinam, &c. 



