115 



COLUBER PUNCTATUS.— Lmnffiws. 

 Plate XXVI. 



Characters. Head large, flattened; body above bluish-black; abdomen orange 

 colour, with three longitudinal rows of spots; beneath the tail yellow, immaculate. 

 PI. 132, sc. 49. 



SrNONYMES. Coluber punctatus, Lin., Syst. Nat., vol. i. p. 376. 



Little black and red snake, Edwards, Glean. Nat. Hist, vol. iii. p. 2S9. 



Another small snake, Edwards, Glean. Nat. Hist, vol. ii. p. 291. 



La ponctuee, Lac^p., Hist Nat des Serp., torn. ii. p. 287. 



Coluber punctatus, Lair., Hist. Nat. des Rept, torn. iv. part ii. p. 136. 



Coluber punctatus, Gmel., Lin. Syst. Nat, vol. i. part iv. p. 1110. 



Coluber punctatus, Baud., Hist Nat. des Rept., torn. vii. p. 178. 



Coluber torquatus, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. iii. p. 553. 



Natrix punctatus, Merrem, Versuch eines Syst. der Rept, p. 131, spec. 162. 



Natrix edwardii, Merrem, Versuch eines Syst der Rept, p. 136, spec. 195. 



Homolopsis punctatus, Wag., Nat. Syst. der Amph., p. 191. 



Coluber punctatus, Harl., Med. and Phys. Res., p. 117. 



Description. The head is small, flattened, about the size of the body. The 

 vertical plate is triangular, with its basis forward and joined to the frontal. 

 The superior orbital are quadrilateral and elongated, their outer margins projecting 

 but very slightly. The occipital are irregularly triangular, broadest in front, and 

 joined to the vertical, superior orbital, and superior posterior orbital. The frontal 

 plates are irregularly quadrilateral; the anterior frontal are smaller and quadri- 

 lateral. The rostral is triangular, with its basis below and its apex above, and 

 rounded. The nasal plate is quadrilateral, with its posterior margin incurvated. 



