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Show 64 REPTILIA. waters; it feeds on frogs, insects, &c. and is eaten in several of the provinces. . . . . . There is a closely allied species m S1clly wh1ch 1s much larger, and has a black collar, the Col. siculus, Nob. . Col. viperinus, Latr.; La Viperine. Grey-brown; a suite of black spots forming a zigzag along the back, and another of smaller ocellated ones along the sides, a kind of colouring which gives it a resemblance to the Viper; beneath cliequered with grey and black; scales carinated. Col. austriacus, Gm.; La Lisse, Lacep. II, ii, 2. Brown-red; marbled beneath with steel colour; two ranges of small blackish spots along the back; scales smooth, each with a small brown dot near the point. Col. atro-virens; La Verte et jaune, Lacep. II, vi, 1. Spotted with black and yellow above; beneath, of a greenish yellow; scales smooth. The south of France and Italy produce Col. girondicus, Daud., which has nearly the same colours as the viperinus, but the scales are smooth, and the dorsal spots smaller and more apart. Col. elaphis, Sh.; La Quatre-Raies, Lacep. II, vii, 1. Fawn colour, with four brown or black lines on the back. It is the largest of the European serpents, and sometimes exceeds six feet. We have reason to think it is the Boa of Pliny. Col . .lEsculapii, Sh. ( 1) (The Serpent of .£sculapius.) Stouter than the elaphis, but not so long; brown above; straw colour beneath and on the flanks; dorsal scales nearly smooth. Found in Italy, Hungary, and Illyria. It is represented by the ancients in their statues of .£sculapius, and the serpent of Epidaurus was probably of this species. The Colubers, foreign to Europe, are innumerable; some are remarkable for the vividness of their colours, others for the regularity of their distribution; the tints of everal are tolerably uniform. But few of them attain a very large size.(2) ( 1) N.B. The Col . .TEsculapii, Lin. is a very different, and an American species. (2) The Colubers presenting but few variations of structure that are interesting, I have not thought it necessary to enter into the long catalo~ue. It will be found in the works of Merrem, Gmelin, Daudin, and Shaw. It is necessary, however, to consult them with much caution and critical nicety: they abound in transpositions of synonymes, &c. For instance, the Col. viridissimus and the Col. jan· thinus, Mer.r., I, xii, only differ from the effects of the spirit of wine;-the Col. horri®s, Daud. Merr. IT, x (Col. viperinus, Shaw), is the same as the demi·collier, Lac., II, viii, 2;-the Coul. violette, Lacep., II, viii, 1, and the Col. regime, Mus. f..d OPHIDIA. 65 AcROCHoRnus, Hornst. This genus is easily known by the little uniform scales which cover the head and body, both above and beneath. In the species known .11. javensis, Lac. II, xi, 2; .flnguis granulatus, Schn.; Oula; caron of Java; each of the scales is relieved with th'ree sma11 ridges, which, when the skin is well stuffed, resemble insulated tubercles. It attains a large size. Hornstedt erroneously states it to be frugivorous-a singular habit for a serpent.( 1) Serpents which are venomous, par excellence, or those with isolated fangs, have their organs of manducation constructed on a very peculiar plan. Their superior maxillary bones are very small, attached to a long pedicle, analogous to the external pterygoid apophysis of the sphenoid bone, and are very movable ; in them is fixed a sharp pointed pervious tooth, through which flows a liquor secreted by a large gland, situated under the eye. It is this liquor which, poured into the wound made by the tooth, produces effects, more or less violent, according to the species of the reptile in which it is secreted. This tooth, when the animal doe~ no~ wish to use it, is concealed ·in a fold of the gum, and behmd It are several germs destined to replace it, in the event of its being broken in a wound. These venomous teeth have been termed by naturalists movable fangs, but in fact it is the maxillary bone which moves ; there are no other teeth in it, so that in this kind of dangerous serpents only the t\\ o rows of palatine teeth are to be seen in the upper part of the mouth. r:. XIU, 2, only differ by the action of the spirit. Such, also, should be con· Sl~ered the Col. lineatus, Seb. XII, 3; Mus. Ad. Fr. xn, 1, xx, 1;-the Col. jaculatnx, Seb., I, 9, Scheuchz, DCCXV, 2;-the Col. atratus, Seb. I, 9, ix 2 and even the terlineatus, Lacep. II, xiii, 1;-the Col. sibilans, Seb. I,. ix, 1, {I, ivi, 4; and the.?oul. chapelet, Lacep. II, xii, 1, appear equally alike, as well as the Col . .!Esculaptt, Jacq. and the jlavescens, Scopol. &c. &c. &c. As to the transposition of synonymes, they are innumerable. N.B. The ENKYDRUS of Daud. would be non· venomous Colubers, with a compressed tail, but the only species he cites, .llnguis xypkura,. Herm. aff. an. p. 269, and Obs. Zool. p. 288, is evidently a Hydrophis or a Pelamts. (1) w: have never been able to discover the particular bone Oppel. says he observed m the Acrochordus, as taking the place of the poison-fangs and M. Les-chenault assures us that the Acrochordus is harmless. ' Vot. II.-1 \ |