THE PARDALINE SNAKE, 
325 
Two individuals were presented to me by my 
friend, of which one was adult, the other about half- 
grown. The former is grey-brown above, pale-yellow 
or white beneath ; marbled here and there with red- 
dish-brown; and marked, with irregular round spots 
of black. The young one is much more beautiful, 
being of a pale clay-colour above, becoming cream- 
yellow on the belly. Four bands of reddish-brown 
run along each side of the back, and ten rows of 
round black spots, of which the two dorsal and the 
two ventral rows contain the largest. The tail is 
very short, and abruptly narrowed at half its length, 
where it becomes pale red, unspotted. On the hind 
head, there is a V-mark of brown, pointing forwards ; 
and a brown band passes from the muzzle through 
each eye, and on to the sides of the neck. 
If we except the Chelonia and the Crocodile, this 
is the only reptile recognised as common to the 
islands of Jamaica and Cuba. Mr. Hill informs me 
that it is rather common about Greenwich, in Kings- 
ton Harbour, and that it never exceeds sixteen or 
eighteen inches in length. The younger specimen 
mentioned above was taken at Mr. Wilkie’s, near 
Spanish-town, in February, 1846. An excellent 
figure of this beautiful little Serpent is given in 
Sagra’s Cuba ; together with an elaborate description ; 
but not a word of information about its habits or 
economy. 
