324 SPANISH-TOWN. 



the rostrum of the insect inserted beneath the scales 

 of the body, by which they were nearly concealed. 

 The form assumed by the pupil of the eye, a narrow 

 perpendicular line, which gives so very sinister an 

 expression to the physiognomy, indicates a nocturnal 

 activity. The pupil is round in the Coluhridce. 



Our Yellow Snake is replaced in Cuba by another 

 form of the same family, very similar in appearance, 

 Epicrates angulifer. 



Probably other Ophidians remain to be described. 

 Mr. Purdie, in his Botanical Tour (Lond. Journ. Bot. 

 iv. 18.), thus speaks of a Serpent which he saw near 

 Agley Gap, in the eastern part of the Island : " On 

 a loose rock I observed a large and remarkable Snake, 

 striped like a zebra; but on my attempting to cap- 

 ture the creature, it disappeared among the rocks. 



THE PARDALINE SNAKE. 



To the kindness of my friend Mr. Hill I am 

 indebted for the knowledge of a pretty little Snake, 

 placed by naturalists in the family of the Boas, yet 

 possessing so many of the characters of the Colubers, 

 that it must be considered as one of the connecting 

 forms of the two groups. It was described under 

 the name of Leionotus maculatus, by M. Bibron, 

 in 1840, in the History of Cuba, by M. Ramon de la 

 Sagra, a new genus being instituted for it. In the 

 same year, M. Gundlacher, in the Archiv. natur- 

 gesch. von Wiegmann, described it as Boa pardalis. 

 Mr. J. E. Gray has given it the generic appellation 

 of Ungalia. 



