ON THE VARIATIONS OF TttE SMOOTH SNAKE. 11 



account, has been given by the Kev. O. P. Cambridge in the 

 ' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History Club' (vii. 1886, 

 p. 84, pi. vi.). But no special_attention has as yet been paid to 

 the variations among British specimens. 



One of the most important characters for the distinction of 

 Coronella austriaca from its European congener, C. girondica, 

 resides in the shape of the rostral shield, the depth of which is 

 much greater in the former, so that a considerable portion of it, 

 forming a triangular area, is bent back on the upper surface of the 

 snout. In the typical C. austriaca (of which several specimens 

 from the original locality, viz. the environs of Vienna, are in the 

 British Museum), the upper portion of the rostral measures about 

 half its distance from the frontal shield ; whilst in the form which 

 predominates in Italy and Sicily, and which has been named 

 Zacholus jitzingeri, Bonap., and Coronella italica, Fitz., the snout 

 is more pointed, projects more beyond the mouth, and the upper 

 portion of the rostral equals at least two-thirds its distance from 

 the frontal. The difference between extreme specimens of the 

 two forms is very striking, whether the head be examined from 

 above or in profile, and a C.fttzingeri is more suggestive of a 

 Simotes or Rhinechis than of a typical Coronella. But there is an 

 almost complete transition between the two extremes, and most 

 recent authors have been content with distinguishing them merely 

 as varieties or subspecies. 



That this form with prominent snout is not confined to Italy 

 was first pointed out by Schreiber (Herp. Eur. p. 308, 1875), 

 who states that he has examined specimens from the Pyrenean 

 Peninsula (no precise locality mentioned) which agree in every 

 respect with the Italian ones. I may add that the only Portuguese 

 specimen I have ever seen, obtained near Coimbra by M. Paulino 

 d'Oliveira, and preserved in the Brussels Museum, belongs to 

 that form ; likewise two specimens from N.W. Spain (Corunna 

 and Pontevedra), which 1 have since received from M. V. L. 

 Seoane. Not long ago Dr. F. Werner (Verh. Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien. 

 xli. 1891, p. 764) recorded the occurrence of individuals of 

 the var. Jitzingeri near Vienna, and he has been so kind as to send 

 me four for the British Museum. Two of them are particularly 

 remarkable in showing a still greater development of the rostral 

 shield, which reaches the prefrontals, entirely separating the 

 internasals. (See p. 13> fig*/). 



