85 



II. — Colubers with Carinaied Scales. 



COLUBER ALLEGHANIENSIS.— flo/firoo)?:. 



Plate XIX. 



Characters. Above, shining blackj beneath, white on the throat, becoming 

 clouded with brown on the anterior part of the abdomen, and entirely slate-colour 

 towards and beneath the tail. Head elongated, rather large, distinct from the 

 neck; body very long; scales on the back carinated, on the flanks smooth; tail 

 rather short. PI. 235-40. Sc. 78-84. 



Description. The head of this serpent is elongated and large; and the mouth 

 is also large. The vertical plate is pentagonal, short and broad; the superior 

 orbital plates are large; the frontal large, irregularly pentagonal, broadest inter- 

 nall}^, and extending externally between the anterior orbital and posterior nasal to 

 the loral plate, which is of trapezoid form, and small. The anterior frontal are 

 small and rhomboidal in shape; the nasal are also large and somewhat trapezoidal, 

 the one lunate before and the other behind for the nostrils; the rostral above is 

 triangular, rounded in front and broad; the temporal are variable, sometimes 

 consisting of two or three narrow plates, or their place is chiefly occupied by the 

 last labial plates, very much enlarged; the posterior orbital are two in number; 

 the anterior orbital is single and very large. 



The nostrils are lateral, a httle removed from the snout, and open outwards 

 and backwards. The eyes are rather large, the pupil black, the iris brown. 



