Size.—Seldom exceeds a length of 3 feet. The largest specimen examined by me measures 37 inches.
Distribution.—Across temperate Asia from Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, and the southern border of the Caspian Sea, to the Amur, Corea, and China. In Europe the habitat of this snake is restricted to the steppes of Southern Russia, between the Caucasus and the Lower Ural. The specimen figured on [Plate VI]. is from Sarepta, on the Volga.
Habits.—This snake frequents arid, sandy localities, and is only exceptionally found in small woods. Nothing more is known of its habits.
11. Coluber longissimus, Laurenti
(Coluber æsculapii, Lacepède; C. flavescens, Gmelin)
The Æsculapian Snake
Form.—Slender. Snout obtuse, scarcely prominent; head narrow. Tail about one-fifth to one-fourth of the total length.
Fig. 24
Head-Shields.—Rostral broader than deep, just visible from above. Frontal once and one-fourth to once and one-third as long as broad, as long as its distance from the rostral or the end of the snout, shorter than the parietals. Loreal as long as deep or longer than deep. One pre- and two postoculars. Temporals 2 + 3. Upper labials eight or nine, fourth and fifth or fifth and sixth entering the eye. Four or five lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are as long as or a little longer than the posterior.
Scales smooth or feebly keeled on the posterior part of the body, with two apical pits, in twenty-three (rarely twenty-one) rows. Ventral shields distinctly angulate laterally, 212 to 248; anal divided; subcaudals 60 to 91.