Zool. [L. coluber snake.] A genus of harmless snakes, typical of, and formerly coextensive with, the family Colubridæ; exemplified in Britain by the common Ringed Snake. (The name was formerly not limited to harmless snakes.)
1763. W. Owen, Dict. Sc. & Arts, I. 674. There are several very beautiful species of coluber without particular names.
1804. Phil. Trans., XCIV. 70. I have received two colubers from Java; and … two from Martinico; all four venomous.
1826. Denham & Clapperton, Trav. Africa, I. 50. We also killed this day an enormous snake, a species of coluber.
1847. Carpenter, Zool., § 507. The Harmless Snakes are divided into two families,—the Colubridæ, or Colubers,—and the Boidæ, or Boas.
