115 



COLUBER ERYTHROGRAMMUS.— i)aMrfm. 



Plate XXII. 



Characters. Head short, depressed, small, and not distinct from the neck; 

 nostrils superior, and placed near the snout; eyes small, directed upwards; body 

 stout: superior surface bluish-black, with three longitudinal red lines, and a row 

 of bluish-black spots on each side of the abdomen: tail rather longer and more 

 slender than in the following species, one-eighth of total length. PI. 178 — Sc. 39. 



Synonymes. Coluber erythrogrammus, Daudin, Rept., vol. vii. p. 93, tab. 83, f. 2. 

 Natrix erythrogrammus, Merreni, Versuch eines Syst. der Amph., p. 117. 

 Helicops erythrogrammus, Wagler, Natur. Syst. der Amph., p. 170. 



Description. The head is short and depressed, smaller than the neck; and the 

 mouth is also small. The vertical plate is short and pentangular, presenting an acute 

 angle backwards; the supra-orbital is narrow and almost a parallelogram in shape; 

 the occipital plates are large, irregularly triangular, the basis directed forwards 

 and rounded; the frontal plates are quadrangular, transverse, with the inferior and 

 posterior angle forming part of the orbit of the eye; there are two posterior orbital 

 plates, the upper one large, the lower very small; the anterior orbital plates 

 are wanting, but the loral supplies their place, and is narrow and elongated; the 

 nasal plates are two in number, small and trapezoidal; the nostril plates are also 

 somewhat trapezoidal; the rostral is very broad. The nostrils are small, superior 

 and placed near the snout. The eyes are very small, also superior and placed 

 near the snout; the pupil is black, and the iris grayish-red. The body is 

 somewhat depressed, elongated and fusiform, tapering at the head and tail. The 

 scales are all smooth and shining, broad, obtuse, and somewhat hexagonal on the 



