412 



description and figure only, appears to be very closely related to, if 

 not identical with, D. ornata. It is described as follows : 



" Head hardly distinct from the neck. Neck and body of nearly 

 equal girth throughout. Bound neck 2" 2'", round middle of body 

 2" 9'". Body elongate. 34 series of scales round the neck, 40 round 

 the middle of the body. Scales almost smooth on the neck and an- 

 terior third of the body ; two feeble keel-like tubercles, one before 

 the other, very obscure, but more strongly developed on the two 

 posterior thirds ; ventrals twice the size of the adjoining scales, 

 quite smooth, broken up here and there on the posterior five eighths 

 of the body. Two pairs of anal shields, the central pair of moderate 

 size, elongate, the external pair very large. The vertical is point- 

 edly linguate. One prae- and two postoculars. The third, fourth, 

 and fifth labials enter the orbit on one side, but only the third and 

 fourth on the opposite side, the fifth being transversely divided 

 into two shields which do not reach quite as high as the orbital 

 margin. Two pairs of large chin-shields, the anterior pair quad- 

 rangular and the posterior pair rather elongated. Olive-yellow 

 above, yellowish on the sides and under surface ; 62 broad black 

 bands on the back, contracting to a point on the sides, but prolonged 

 very indistinctly on to the sides and ventral aspect, when they ex- 

 pand as a large blackish spot. Near the tail the dorsal bands become 

 connected together, and their continuations on the ventral aspect 

 follow a similar arrangement. Six black rings on the tail, confluent 

 below ; the latter third entirely black." 



Total length 4| feet. 



Unb. Hooghly, below Calcutta. 



iy\'2. Distira lapemidoides. 



Aturia lapemoides, Gray, Cat. Sn. p. 40. 



Jlydrophis lapemoides, Giinth. Kept. B. I. p. 375; Blanf. J.A.S. B. 



xlviii, 1879, p. 132. 



Hydrophis holdsworthii, Giinth. A. M. N. H. (4) ix, 1872, p. 33. 

 Hydropis stewartii, Anders. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 399 ; Fayrer, Thanat. 



pi. xxiy ; Murray, Zool. Sind, p. 390. 

 Hydrophis dayanus, Stoliczka, P. A. S. B. 1872, p. 89 ; Murray, 



'Zool. Sind, p. 393. 



Head rather small ; body elongate, slender anteriorly ; diameter 

 of neck two fifths to one third the greatest depth. Eostral slightly 

 broader than deep ; nasals shorter than the frontal, more than 

 twice as long as the suture between the praefrontals ; frontal much 

 longer than broad, as long as its distance from the end of the snout 

 or a little shorter, shorter than the parietals; one prae- and two 

 postoculars ; upper labials 8, second largest, third and fourth en- 

 tering the eye ; two or three superposed anterior temporals ; two 

 pairs of subequal chin-shields, in Contact, or posterior separated by 

 one scale. 30 to 33 scales round the neck, 43 to 47 round the middle 

 of the body ; scales rhomboidal and subimbricate on the neck, hex- 

 agonal and juxtaposed on the body, of young smooth, of adult 



