CHAPTER V. 



THE SMOOTH SNAKE. 



Sub-order i, Ophidia Colubriformes. Family, Colubrida. 

 Genus, Coronella. Species, austriaca. 



This little snake, though very common on the Continent, was 

 not admitted among the English fauna until about thirty years 

 ago. It was, I think, first found near Dumfries, and after many 

 doubts about it received the name of Coluber Dumfriesensis. It 

 was then taken to be a variety of viper, or the young of some 

 other snake. It was next found in Hampshire and in Dorset- 

 shire, and the question arose " Had it been introduced into 

 England, or was it truly a native ? " and if the latter, which was 

 its true locality? Mr. M. C. Cooke, in his book of Our 

 Reptiles, gives a very interesting account of its history and of the 

 various specimens caught, and the careful investigation of- every 

 report concerning it before it was confidently decided to include 

 it among English snakes. By degrees its claim to be a native 

 was established. It was identified with the Coronella austriaca of 

 the Continent ; but it entered the lists here as Coronella Icevis, the 

 specific referring to its smooth, uncarinated scales. It is very 

 common on the Continent, where it is also known as Coluber 

 Icevis and Coluber ferruginous, the latter from its colour. It 

 belongs to a very large group, including many genera, and 

 represented in nearly every country of the globe. It is a slender 

 little snake, seldom exceeding two feet in length, and is easily 

 distinguished from both the viper and the ring snake. In colour 

 it is a sort of rusty, reddish-brown, with black, but not very con- 

 spicuous spots. Its head is rather long and narrow, and covered 

 with plates or shields, and the body scales are short, and of a 

 rhomboid shape on the back, somewhat larger on the sides, with 

 the ventral scuts broad as usual. It has a shortish muzzle, and 

 the maxillary teeth longer posteriorly than in front, but no fangs. 

 Coronella Icevis is said to be spiteful, and to try to bite when 

 caught, but it has no venom, and the bite can be no worse than 



