ON THE VARIATIONS OF THE SMOOTH SNAKE. 



13 



from the Continent. His answer was that he had never imported 

 any Coronellas, and that there is no one else in Bournemouth 

 who deals in Reptiles in any way. 



The following figures show the amount of variation in the 

 shape of the snout, and the size of the rostral shield in six 

 specimens: — a, b, and /from Austria; c and e from Hampshire; 

 and d from Piedmont. 



The number of scales across the middle of the body is 

 invariably 19. The number of ventral shields varies from 153 

 to 199; the anal is nearly always divided, but I find it entire 

 in one specimen from Travnik, Bosnia ; the number of ventral 

 shields varies from 42 to 70 pairs. The following are the num- 

 bers of ventrals and subcaudals in the seven British specimens 

 examined by me : — 



A. Kussell. 

 J. L. Monk. 

 F. Bond. 

 F. Beckford. 

 Zool. Soc. 



In his well-known paper on the scale-pits of snakes (Vidensk. 

 Meddel. 1860, p. 209 ; German translation in Arch. f. Nat. 1861, 

 p. 127), Bernhardt states that the pits are single in Goronella 

 austriaca, and this has even been given as a diagnostic character 

 of the genus Coronella by Cope (Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc. xxiii. 

 J886, p. 487). I have examined a large number of specimens 



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