54 OUR REPTILES. 



expressed a doubt whether the specimen was not 

 an immature one of the common species.* As the 

 specimen is not in existence, it cannot be positively 

 affirmed what it was ; but, from the description, 

 there is reason to believe it was really the first 

 recorded capture of the snake whose name stands 

 at the head of this chapter. <f It was about 

 three or four inches in length, of a pale-brown 

 colour, with pairs of reddish-brown stripes from 

 side to side, over the back, somewhat zigzag, 

 with intervening spots on the sides. The abdo- 

 minal plates were 162, those under the tail about 

 eighty. The most remarkable peculiarity men- 

 tioned, however, is, that the scales are extremely 

 simple, not carinated." 



Towards the close of 1859 the Hon. Arthur 

 Russell sent to the British Museum a female speci- 

 men of the Smooth Snake, which was taken by a 

 resident near the flagstaff at Bournemouth, Hamp- 

 shire, and Dr. Gray communicated a notice of the 

 fact to the Zoologist (p. 6731). Supplementary 

 to this notice, the editor added a description of 

 the reptile from Lord Clermont's work. In the 

 next number a communication appeared from 

 Mr. Frederick Bond, in which he stated, " I 

 captured a specimen of the new British snake 

 five or six years ago, in June, near Ringwood, 



* Bell's " Keptiles," 2nd ed. p. 60. 



