534 



BLACK-BACKED SNAKE, 



stripes before mentioned : the vmder parts of the 

 animal are white, each scutum being very deeply 

 margined with black or dark brown, thus form- 

 ing so many transverse bands on the abdomen 

 and tail, and aifording a very characteristic mark 

 of the species : the tail is of moderate length, slen- 

 der, and gradually tapers to a fine point. This 

 snake is a native of South America, and is consi- 

 dered as an innocuous species : it appears to vary 

 sometimes in colour, Seba describing specimens 

 in which the stripes were red instead of brown or 

 black. 



ELACK-BACKED SNAKE. 



Coluber Melanotus. C. albidus uttis trihus approximatis nigrisj 



intermedia latissima. 

 Whitish Snake, with three approximated black bands, the 



middle one very wide. 

 Serpens Africana Bona3 Spei eleganter lemniscata. Seb, 2. 



t. 62. f. 3. 



Abdominal scuta 158, subcaudal scales 50. 



A MIDDLE-SIZED, or rather smallish species: 

 length about a foot and half or two feet : habit 

 moderately slender : colour whitish, with three 

 black or dark brown dorsal stripes, of which the 

 middle one is very broad, and the others rather 

 narrow : all pretty closely placed : head of mode- 

 rate size, covered with large scales, and of a pale 

 colour ; neck sometimes marked on each side by 

 a row of five or six roundish black spots, suc- 

 ceeded by the side stripes : abdomen white. 



