384 SPANISH TOWN. 



drawing [copied from Seba] of the eared serpent as 

 he calls it. He says it is exactly that which he shot ; 

 the shape of the head angular in the same way, but 

 not apparently so pointed in the beak. It was spotted 

 all over, and had the lobes purple-tinted. 



" I have just seen Ulick Ramsay, and shown him 

 the drawing from Seba's Thesaurus. The head of 

 the snake, which he saw in the hands of the Artillery 

 Sergeant from the Arsenal, not the Barracks, was 

 similar. The ears, as he calls the lobe-like organs, 

 appeared higher up to the crown ; the head was 

 angular in contour, and the body without spots." 



These comparisons, made merely from memory, and 

 without the attention having been particulai'ly directed 

 to the points in question at the time of observation, 

 are, of course, of little value. The accumulation of 

 evidence, however, for the existence of this curious 

 form, is, I think, irresistible. 



THE SPOTTED-CHINNED SNAKE. 



A pretty little Snake, hitherto unnoticed by zoo- 

 logists, has occurred to my researches in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Bluefields. It is much too rare to have 

 allowed any opportunity for observation on its man- 

 ners, but two specimens having fallen into my hands ; 

 and the common people are not acquainted with 

 it, or perhaps confound it with the common Grey 

 Snake. I describe it below.* 



* Matrix callileema, mihi. (Ka\bs, pretty, and Kai/xhs, the throat.) 

 Head oval ; snout obtuse, rounded ; neck slightly constricted : body 

 and tail slender ; tail two fifths (in the young specimen one third) of 

 the whole length : snout projecting ; mouth curved, rising poste- 

 riorly : gape reaching as far as the rear of the occipitals. Labial 



