404 



ATROPOS. 



Coluber Atropos. C. cams maculis rotundis magnis fuscis albo 



marginatis in serie quadruplici dispositis. 

 Grey Snake, with a quadruple series of large round brown 



spots with white margins. 

 Coluber Atropos. Lin. Syst, Nat. p, 275, 

 Abdominal scuta 131, subcaudal squamae 22, 



This is a species of a thick and short form, 

 scarcely exceeding fifteen or sixteen inches in 

 length : the head is large and viperine, marked 

 with four or five large dusky spots, and covered with 

 small scales : the remainder of the animal is pale 

 brown, marked all along the upper part by four* 

 rows of very large, alternate, round, black spots 

 bordered with white: the abdomen is ash -coloured: 

 the tail very short, measuring about a ninth part of 

 the whole length : the scales on all the upper parts 

 are of a slightly sharpened form, and caiinated. 

 It is a native of America, and is considered as an 

 extremely poisonous serpent. From its remark- 

 able pattern, and the size of its spots, it is a spe- 

 cies very easily distinguished. 



* In a beautiful specimen in the Leverian Museum there seem 

 to be only three rows of spots. 



