THE PARDALINE SNAKE. 525 



Two individuals were presented to me by my 

 friend, of which one was adult, the other about half- 

 grown. The former is grey-brown above, pale-yellow 

 or white beneath ; marbled here and there with red- 

 dish-brown; and marked with irregular round spots 

 of black. The young one is much more beautiful, 

 being of a pale clay-colour above, becoming cream- 

 yellow on the belly. Four bands of reddish-brown 

 run along each side of the back, and ten rows of 

 round black spots, of which the two dorsal and the 

 two ventral rows contain the largest. The tail is 

 very short, and abruptly narrowed at half its length, 

 where it becomes pale red, unspotted. On the hind 

 head, there is a V-mark of brown, pointing forwards ; 

 and a brown band passes from the muzzle through 

 each eye, and on to the sides of the neck. 



If we except the Chelonia and the Crocodile, this 

 is the only reptile recognised as common to the 

 islands of Jamaica and Cuba. Mr. Hill informs me 

 that it is rather common about Greenwich, in Kings- 

 ton Harbour, and that it never exceeds sixteen or 

 eighteen inches in length. The younger specimen 

 mentioned above was taken at Mr. Wilkie's, near 

 Spanish-town, in February, 1846. An excellent 

 figure of this beautiful little Serpent is given in 

 Sagra's Cuba ; together with an elaborate description ; 

 but not a word of information about its habits or 

 economy. 



