SERPENTS. 



363 



however, have an armature of palatine teeth, and reach a considerable size. They 

 are known in southern Asia, as well as on the neighboring islands, from their fierce 

 habits. 



"We now come to a large family of cosmopolitan ophidians, the Coeonellid^, 

 found in nearly every country, though rare in Australia. They have the body taper- 

 ing towards each end ; the head, which is separated from the body by a distinctly 

 constricted neck, depressed, short, and often obtuse ; tlie scales of the body are usu- 

 ally smooth, and arranged in from thirteen to twenty-three ro<vs, and in size the 

 magnitude of many members of the genus Coluber is not reached. Though generally 

 inactive, on being attacked they defend themselves with considerable energy. In 

 coloration, being mostly terrestrial forms, they are generally dull, though some which 



Fig. 215. — Ophitolus getulus, chain-snake, 



inhabit grass land, are bright-colored, and are among the most graceful, as well as 

 most beautiful, of ophidians. 



The genus Coronella includes a number of purely terrestrial forms, inhabiting 

 nearly every temperate and tropical country. Coronella austriaca is very generally 

 distributed throughout Europe, where it is often mistaken for the viper. It has, on rare 

 occasions, been found in England. C. cana inhabits south Africa. C. orientalis is 

 described as the only representative of the genus in India, and the C. australis, or 

 the Australian ground-snake, has been described from a single specimen in the British 

 Museum. As considerable work has been done on the Australian snakes by native 

 naturalists, and as no second specimen has been discovered, the form must be ex- 

 tremely rare. It not only rejjresents the genus, but the family, in the insular 

 continent. 



In North America, the family under consideration is represented by several 



