422 



CORALLINE SNAJCE. 



Coluber Corallinus. C. glaucus, squamis suhcordatis, supra lineia 



tribus longitudinalibus fuscis. 

 Glaucous Snake, with subcordated scales, and three brown 



lines down the back. 

 Coluber Corallinus. Lin. Syst. Nat. p. 384. 

 Serpens Corallina Amboinensis. Seb. 2. t. ^7 .f, 1, 

 Abdominal scuta 193, subcaudal scales 82. 



Length near three feet : head small, and co- 

 vered with large scales : those on the body small, 

 somewhat heart-shaped, and disposed in longitu- 

 dinal rays or stripes, representing, in some degree, 

 the articulations of Coralline : colour above blue- 

 ish grey, sometimes greenish, with three dusky or 

 rufous longitudinal streaks down the back : tail 

 rather long, and tapering to a slender tip : abdomen 

 pale. This, according to Linnseus, is a poisonous 

 species : it preys on lizards, &c. In Seba is a re- 

 presentation of the identical specimen afterwards 

 described by Linnseus taken in the act of swal- 

 lowing a lizard, of at least equal diameter with its 

 own body, in consequence of which the jaws are 

 distended in such a manner as to alter entirely the 

 natural appearance of the head, by stretching the 

 lower into a perpendicular direction. It is a na- 

 tive of the eastern regions. 



* Mus. Ad. Frid. p. 33. 



