105 



CORONELLA BOLIAT A.— Lhumus. 



Plate XXIV. 



Characters. Head small, flattened above, with the snout rounded; neck 

 slightly contracted; body elongated, rather slender; scarlet above, and marked 

 with black rings, in pairs; between each pair is a white ring. PI. 174. Sc. 40. 



Synonymes. Coluber doliatus, Linnseus, Syst. Nat., torn. i. p. 379. 

 Coluber doliatus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. Lin., torn. i. pars iii. p. 

 Natrix doliatus, Merrem, Versuch eines Syst. der Amphib., p. 129. 

 Coronella coccinea, Schlegel, Phys. des Serp., torn. ii. p. 57, pi. ii. fig. 11. 



Description. The head is rather small, flattened above, with the snout rounded; 

 the vertical plate is pentagonal, with an acute angle behind; the superior orbital 

 are oblong-quadrilateral, broadest behind, and not projecting over the eye; the 

 occipital are polygonal, and very large; the frontal are broad and pentagonal, 

 narrowest externally, where they descend to join a tolerably large quadrilateral, 

 loral plate. The anterior frontal are also quadrilateral, smaller than the posterior, 

 and broadest externally. The rostral plate is large, heptagonal, and concave 

 below. There are two nasal plates, the posterior square, the anterior lunated 

 behind for the nostril, which does not enter the posterior, but comes out at its 

 anterior border. There is a single anterior orbital plate, oblong, slightly concave 

 behind, and two small, sub-round, posterior orbital. The inferior wall of the orbit 

 is made up of the third and fourth superior labial plates, of which there are seven. 



The nostrils are lateral, and near the snout. The eyes are small, the pupil 

 reddish-grey and bright. The neck is but slightly contracted, and is covered 

 with small, smooth, sub-hexagonal scales. The body is long, tolerably stout, and 

 Vol. III.— 14 



