SERPENTS. 



55 



Oligodon, Boie. 



Small Colubers, with a short, narrow, obtuse head, in which the pala- 

 tine teeth are wanting. 



The various remaining subgenera which have been separated from that 

 of Coluber, appear to us less worthy of being retained ; they are founded 

 upon slight variations in the proportions of the head, thickness of the 

 trunk, &c* After all these divisions, the Colubers are more numerous 

 in species than any other genus of Serpents. Several are found in 

 France. Such as 



Col. natrix, L. ; Couleuvre a collier, Lac. II, vi, 2. (The Ringed 

 Snake). Cinereous, with black spots along the flanks, and three 

 white ones on the neck, forming a collar; scales carinate, that is to 

 say, raised into a ridge. Very common in meadows and stagnant 

 waters; it feeds on frogs, insects, &c, and is eaten in several of the 

 provinces. 



There is a closely allied species in Sicily, which is much larger, 

 and has a black collar, the Col. siculus, Nob. 



Col. viperinus, Latr. ; La Fiperine. Grey-brown ; a suite of 

 black spots forming a zigzag along the back, and another of smaller 

 ocellated ones along the sides, a kind of colouring which gives it a 

 resemblance to the Viper; beneath chequered with grey and black; 

 scales carinated. 



Col. austriacus, Gm. ; La Lisse, Lacep. II, ii, 2. Brown-red; 

 marbled beneath with steel-colour; two ranges of small blackish 

 spots along the back ; scales smooth, each with a small brown dot 

 near the point. 



Col. atro-virens; La verte et jaune, Lacep. II, vi, 1. Spotted 

 with black and yellow above; beneath of a greenish yellow; scales 

 smooth. 

 The south of France and Italy produce, 



Col. girondicus, Daud. ; La Couleuvre Bordelaise, which has 

 nearly the same colours as the viperinus, but the scales are smooth, 

 and the dorsal spots smaller and more apart. 



Col. elaphis, Sh.; La Quatre-Raies, Lacep. II, vii, 1. Fawn- 

 colour, with four brown or black lines on the back. It is the largest 

 of the European serpents, and sometimes exceeds six feet. We 

 have reason to think it is the Boa of Pliny. 



Col. Msculapii\, Sh. (The Serpent of iEsculapius). Stouter 



• By this I particularly mean the Tyria, Malpolon, Psammophis, Coro- 

 nella, Xenodon, and Pseudoelai's of Fitzingcr. At most, we could only adopt 

 his Duberria, where the head is short, obtuse, and on one uniform line witli the 

 body, as in Elaps; and his Homalopsis, in which the eyes are rather more vertical 

 than in the other Colubers. Observe that I have separated Cerberus from them. 

 Laurentini had previously endeavoured to divide the Colubers into Coluber and 

 CoronellA; the latter were those in which the scales on the sides of the temporal 

 plates are large enough to be counted as so many plates more; but the transitions 

 from one group to another are almost insensible. 



f N.B. The Col. Msculapii, Lin., is a very different, and an American species. 



