412 SUPPLEMENT. 



The back part of the head was so much bruised that its origi- 

 nal form was not easily distinguishable. In the fragments of 

 the upper jaw were seen three slender recurved teeth ; in those 

 of one side of the under jaw seven similar teeth, and the 

 sockets of three others. No venomous fangs Avere found. The 

 tongue was bifid, each fork being nearly half an inch long. 

 The nostrils, situated between the second and third plate from 

 the nose, were large and oval. Between the nostril and the 

 eye was a longitudinal hollow, bounded beneath by the upper 

 lip, above by a very prominent superciliary ridge, extending 

 beyond the eye. The eye was very large, nearly round, its 

 breadth apparently a little diminished by the superciliary ridge 

 jutting over it. The whole head was covered with plates, 

 but those on the top of it were so much broken, that their 

 number and form could not be perfectly ascertained. The 

 under jaw was divided by a longitudinal furrow, having a tri- 

 angular scutella at its anterior extremity, and two rows of 

 scutellee on each side. 



The body was covered with hexagonal flat scales, those 

 on the back narrowest ; the throat with three or four rows of 

 small scales ; the belly with a hundred and eighty plates ,* 

 the tail with ninety-three pairs of scutellee. Over the vent 

 was one pair of scutellee ] at its sides four pair, the scales op- 

 posite to which were smaller than those on any other part of 

 the body. 



The color of the head and of the upper part of the body 

 and tail was an uniform deep brown ; that of the belly and 

 under part of the tail a bluish lead color, lightest in the mid- 

 dle. The whole of the under jaw and throat were white,^ 

 which color extended in a clouded streak some way down 

 under the neck, and fore part of the belly. 



In the general disposition of its colors, in the number, form, 

 and arrangement of the scuta and scutella5, this animal ap- 

 proaches most nearly to the Coluber constrictor ; from which^^ 

 however, it is strikingly distinguished by its undulating back, 

 by its body being larger in proportion to its length, and dimin- 

 ishing more suddenly at the vent, the tail shorter, the teeth 



