616 OPIIIDIA 



CHAP. 



keeled. The anal is divided. Adult specimens have a yellow i si i- 

 brown ground-colour with a pair of black streaks on each side of 

 the back. A black line extends from the eye to the angle of 

 the mouth ; the under parts are yellow, mostly closely spotted 

 with brown. This snake is good-tempered, and keeps well in 

 captivity. They live on sparrows, mice, lizards, etc., and are very 

 fond of eggs. Large specimens can swallow several fowls' eggs 

 in succession ; the crushed remains of the shells are later dis- 

 gorged. This handsome snake climbs extremely well in search 

 of birds and their eggs, and it is not afraid of the water. The 

 prey is caught either with the teeth or by a rapid twist of the 

 tail ; in any case, the prey is always strangulated by the constric- 

 tion of coils thrown round it. A sparrow thus secured is 

 literally passed through the moving coils along the snake's body 

 into a position convenient for swallowing. Hungry snakes 

 catch and secure several birds or mice before eating them. My 

 own specimens became almost affectionately tame, never attempted 

 to bite, and took food from the hand. 



C. leopardinus is smaller, but is one of the handsomest snakes 

 of Southern Italy, South-Eastern Europe, and Asia Minor. It is 

 closely allied to the previously described species. The ground- 

 colour is pale brown with a dorsal series of dark brown or 

 reddish, black-edged, transverse spots, and a lateral alternating 

 series of smaller black spots, or with two dark brown, black- 

 edged stripes bordering a yellowish vertebral stripe ; usually with 

 a forked black mark on the occiput and nape. The under parts 

 are white, checkered with black, sometimes with the latter colour 

 prevailing. 



C. flavescens s. aesculapii is the Aesculap-Snake, for which the 

 almost unknown name of longissimus has now been unearthed in 

 deference to the fetish of priority. This snake is of an extremely 

 graceful and slender build, with a very long tail. Its home is 

 the South of France, Italy, and South-Eastern Europe. It occurs 

 sporadically in the Tyrol, for instance near Bozen, in Austria, at 

 Baden near Vienna, in Germany only in the Taunus, especially at 

 Schlangenbad, which has received its name from the frequent 

 occurrence of this snake. This sporadic distribution favours 

 the idea that these snakes were introduced by the Eomans as 

 inmates of the temples erected to Aesculapius at such watering- 

 places. Specific characters are the smooth and shiny scales, 



