Reptiles. 9505 



Observations on Coronella auslriaca. By Dr. Edward Opel, Presi- 

 dent of the Zoological Gardens, Dresden. Communicated bj 

 the Rev. W. W. Spicer. 



The enclosed observations on our newest British reptile will, 

 I think, be of interest to many readers of the 'Zoologist.' I have 

 translated them from a monograph on the subject by my friend 

 Dr. Opel, a distinguished naturalist, of Dresden, Saxony. I have 

 omitted the first half of his paper, as it refers entirely to the anatomy 

 of the Coronella and its osteological characteristics, as compared with 

 those of the common snake. Not being a surgeon by profession, and 

 therefore unskilled in the technical terms employed, 1 feared doing an 

 injustice to the learned author's remarks. 



W. W. Spicer. 



Rectory, Itchen Abbas, Winchester, Hants. 



Coronella aostriaca, Laurenti. 



(Coluber thuringicus, Bechst. C. laevis, Menem. C. austriacus, Ginel. 

 Zacholus, Wagl.) 



It has been stated, but erroneously, that the male and female 

 Coronella vary in colour. The only change that takes place is in 

 connection with the casting of the skin. Immediately after that pro- 

 cess the animal appears in its most brilliant colours, the dark markings 

 standing out conspicuously from the bright blue ground of the body. 

 The iris, too (which, as Lenz has justly observed in his ' Schlangen- 

 kund,' encircles the rounded pupil of the eye, and is broader and 

 clearer above than below), is then lighted up with a deeper intensity 

 of expression. 



The brilliancy of the colours is, however, transitory ; they begin to 

 fade within six or seven days. The steel-blue ground is succeeded by 

 a dirty brownish yellow ; the black burnished markings become less 

 clear, and the fiery appearance of the iris is dulled, though I never 

 found that the organs of sight were covered by the peculiar bluish veil 

 which precedes the epidermal changes of the common snake. As with 

 all ophidians, when in captivity, the sloughing goes on comparatively 

 slowly. 



I have had numerous Coronellas in my possession, and one in par- 

 ticular I was able to make the subject of the closest observation for 

 VOL. XXIII. R 



