405 



ALECTO. 



Coluber Alecto. C. albidus, dorso maculis retknlatis rhombeatis 

 fvscis, capite cordato ferrugineo, stria laterali nigra. 



Whitish Snake, with reticular rhomboid brown spots along 

 the back, and cordated ferruginous head with a black lateral 

 stripe. 



Coluber Ceilonicus, longissimus, perniciosus, torvus Ammo- 

 dytes dictus. Seb. 2, p. 79> t, 76. f. 1. 



A LARGE snake : length about five feet and a 

 half: habit rather slender than thick: head very 

 large, flattish, cordated at the back part, of a 

 pale ferruginous colour speckled with black, and 

 marked on each side by a descending black streak 

 from the eye to the hind-head: remainder of the 

 animal very pale or whitish grey, marked through- 

 out the whole length of the back by a series of 

 large, transverse, rhomboid, reticular patches of 

 brown, the points of which descend on the sides 

 so as almost to reach the abdominal scuta : tail 

 rather short, gradually tapering, and terminating 

 in a horny pointed extremity. Native of Ceylon : 

 said to be a poisonous species. 



VAR. ? 



Seba figures a much smaller snake, of about 

 three feet long, white, with a tinge of blossom- 

 colour, and marked above as in the former, of 

 which it may, perhaps, be a younger specimen ; 

 the differences being not so great av^ entirely to 



