VIPERA (CERASTES) CAUD ALTS.— Smith. 



Reptilia. — Plate VII. 



V. supra flavo-rubra, maculis aurantio-brunneis variegatis ; subtus roseus ; capite cordiforme, maculis 

 duabus sagittiformibus nutato, cujus una inter oculos, altera super occiput; supercilio singulo squama 

 aculeata armato ; squamis subcaudalibus caudse aliis squamis subsimilibus. 



Longitudo, corpris cum capite, 12j line ; caudie, 1^ unc. 



Vipera ocellata, Smith. Magazine of Natural History, new series, vol. ii. Feb. 1838, p. 92.* 



Colour. — Above yellowish red, spotted and variegated with other colours ; 

 beneath pale rose-red with a pearly lustre. The principal spots are disposed 

 in three irregular rows along the back ; those of the centre row oblong, and 

 somewhat quadrangular ; those of the other two more or less circular : They 

 are of an orange-brown colour, and some of them are partially, others com- 

 pletely edged with straw-yellow; those of the middle row are in the first con- 

 dition, being only margined anteriorly and posteriorly ; those of the others 

 mostly in the state last described, and the majority of them have besides 

 a lilac coloured point toward their centre. The sides of the body are 

 faintly freckled with small nebulce, or irregular spots of the same colour as 

 those of the back, only of a much paler tint, without variegations, and rarely 

 placed alike in any two specimens. The upper and lateral parts of the head 

 are variegated with similar colours, only disposed, after a different fashion, 

 viz. in the form of angular or arrow-shaped markings on the top of the 

 head, and on the sides in vertical bars. The former are generally two in 

 number, one between the eyes, and the other on the occiput, and both are 

 commonly margined anteriorly with cream-yellow. The vertical bars usually 

 amount to four on each side, three of them cut the upper-lip, and the fourth 

 generally terminates immediately behind the angle of the mouth. Besides 

 the arrow-sharped marks with which the top of the head is variegated, there 

 are usually two, or even more, circular spots intermediate between the mark- 

 ings particularised, and these are also frequently edged with cream-yellow. 

 Eyes reddish orange. 



In some specimens the ground colour of the upper parts is much darker 

 than that above described, differing but little from the tint of the spots which, 

 in such cases, are but indistinctly seen. In others again, the prevailing 



* As it does not appear probable that the genus Vipera will ultimately be divisible into subgenera, I 

 have thought it advisable to substitute for ocellata, — a term which under such circumstances would cause- 

 some confusion, — that of caudalis. 



