_Coloration._--Grey, pinkish-grey, brown, yellowish-brown, or brick red above, with a more or less distinct wavy or zigzag black or brown, usually black-edged, band along the back, or a series of large rhombs connected on the median line, with or without a lateral series of dark spots; specimens with the markings of an intense black are males (Plate XIV.). Head with or without dark markings, very variable in disposition, sometimes forming a [V] on the occiput, or a lyre-shaped figure confluent with the dorsal band; a dark streak or broad band from the eye to the angle of the mouth, sometimes continued along the neck; dark vertical bars often present on the sides of the snout and under the eye; on the lower lip, the dark shade, if present, broken up by light bars separated by two to four labial shields. Belly greyish or pink, powdered with brown or black, or dark bluish-grey, with or without black and white spots; lower surface of end of tail orange or coral red, rarely yellow. Iris golden. Specimens with a straight brown vertebral band flanked with triangular black spots pointing outwards (var. _steindachneri_, Werner) are known from Hungary, and resemble certain colour varieties of _V. berus_ and _V. aspis_. Black specimens are very rare. The following varieties are important geographical forms occurring in Europe: Var. _montandoni_, Boulenger: Naso-rostral shield never reaching the canthus rostralis nor the summit of the rostral shield, which is deeper than broad (once and one-seventh to once and a half); rostral appendage clad with ten to fourteen scales, in three (rarely two or four) transverse series between the rostral shield and the apex. Scales in twenty-one rows. Ventral shields 149 to 158; subcaudals 30 to 38. A more or less distinct dark blotch on the lower lip, involving five to seven labial shields without complete interruption. Lower surface of end of tail yellow. [Illustration: FIG. 39--SIDE VIEWS OF HEADS OF _V. ammodytes typica_ (_a_) AND VAR. _meridionalis_ (_b_)] [Illustration: FIG. 40--FRONT VIEWS OF END OF SNOUT, SHOWING THE LEPIDOSIS. (From Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1903) _a_, Form _typica_; _b_, var. _meridionalis_; _c_, var. _montandoni_] Var. _meridionalis_, Boulenger: Naso-rostral shield never reaching the canthus rostralis, and but rarely extending higher up than the upper border of the rostral, which is often as deep as broad or a little deeper than broad; rostral appendage clad with fourteen to twenty scales, in four or five (rarely three) transverse series between the rostral shield and the apex. Supraciliary edge usually more prominent than in the typical form, sometimes slightly angular. Scales in twenty-one rows (very rarely twenty-three). Ventral shields 133 to 147; subcaudals 24 to 35. A more or less distinct dark blotch on the lower lip, involving five or six labial shields without interruption. Lower surface of end of tail yellow.