MILIARY SNAKE. 479 



the commencement of the tail, where they become 

 single, and are scattered over that part to the tip : 

 abdomen white : head rather small and short, but 

 rather sharp-snouted : white, with black variega- 

 tions, a stripe passing across the nose, and a se- 

 cond across the eyes : the beginning of the neck, 

 or rather the back part of the head, marked by a 

 pair of short longitudinal white streaks ; tail of 

 moderate length, tapering rather suddenly from 

 the vent, and from thence gradually to the tip : 

 described from a beautiful specimen in the Leve- 

 rian Museum : Seba represents this species as a 

 native of Ceylon, &c. 



MILIARY SNAKE. 



Coluber Miliaris. C.fuscus, albo punctatm, ahdomine albo. 

 Brown Snake, speckled with white, and with white abdomen. 

 Coluber Miliaris. Lin. Syst. Nat. p. 380. 

 Abdominal scuta l62, subcaudal scales 59. 



Length about a foot and half: thickness of a 

 finger : colour on the upper parts brown, each 

 scale marked by a white spot : beneath white : 

 head ovate, with glaucous scales blackish in the 

 middle : lips marked by dusky streaks : tail about 

 a fifth of the whole length, and not very slender : 

 native of South America. 



