_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. _Coloration._--Yellowish-grey to dark olive-brown above, some of the scales with whitish lines on the margins occasionally forming a network; sometimes with a yellowish vertebral stripe or with four darker stripes along the body (var. _romanus_, Suckow); upper lip, and often also a triangular patch on each side behind the temple, pale yellow; a more or less distinct dark band on the temple, and a vertical dark bar below the eye (Plate VII., first figure). Lower parts uniform pale yellow. Young (second figure) with dark brown dorsal spots, forming four to seven longitudinal series, a [V]-shaped black marking on the nape behind the yellow nuchal blotches, which are brighter than in the adult, a dark brown bar across the forehead, and a black vertical line below the eye; belly greyish or yellowish-olive. Iris dark grey or brown. Tongue pinkish-brown. _PLATE VII_ [Illustration: COLUBER LONGISSIMUS] [Illustration: COLUBER LONGISSIMUS _Young, after Sordelli_] [Illustration: COLUBER LEOPARDINUS _After Sordelli_] [Illustration: C. LEOPARDINUS, VAR. QUADRILINEATUS _After Sordelli_] Melanism is rare in this snake. Such specimens are entirely black above and beneath (var. _niger_, Nikolsky), or blackish-grey to black above, dark grey beneath (var. _subgriseus_, Werner), the angular line on each side of the belly often remaining light. An albino found near Vienna has been described as pale orange-yellow above, with small white spots; pupil and tongue red. _Size._--Grows to 6 feet. Specimens over 4-1/2 feet are, however, very rarely met with.