94 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI I. 



Sub-family HYDROPHIIN^^. ■ - 



This contains at least eleven genera, one of which Enhyd/ris 

 includes the first sea-snake to be discussed in these papers. 



Genus UNHYDRFS. 



(Greek "En" in, and " hudor " water). !; 



Stejneger has thrown doubts on the validity of this name for the 

 genus for which he substitutes Lapemis (Herpetology of Japan, 

 1907, p. 435). I adhere to the generic title used by Boulonger as 

 late as 1912 (Fauna of Malay Peninsula, Rept and Batrach., 

 p. 192) which is the one with which all of us have grown familiar 

 It contains onl}^ two species, viz., curtus, a very common snake, 

 around our coasts, and liardwicki rare in Indian seas, but common 

 further east in the Malayan Archipelago, 



ENHYDRIS CURTUS (Shaw). 

 Shaw's Sea-snake. 



History. — Described by Shaw in 1802 from a young specimen 

 labelled " India" (the type) now in the British Museum. 



Nmnendalure. (a) Scientific. — The generic name simply implies 

 " water snake," and the specific is from the Latin " curtus " mean- 

 ing short. 



(I)) Enrjlish. — I think it a fitting tribute to the work of Shaw, 

 once the herpetologist, and custodian of the reptile collectiona in 

 the British Museum, to associate his name with the species. 



(c) VervafAiVir. — None known to me. 



General Characters. — The species is remarkably stout, and short 

 for a sea-snake. The head is massi\e, and the jaws strong, the body 

 heavy, short, and strongly compressed, and the tail markedly com- 

 pressed, and fin-like. 



Colmr. — The dorsum is olivaceous-green merging about mid costa 

 to pale yellow. The back is beset with a series of dark greenish- 

 brown or greenish-black rather ill-defined crossbars, about 45 to 55 

 in number, and rather broader than the interspaces. The first of 

 these passes across the back of the head. In the young these bars 

 extend further ventrally, and often form complete b mds. 



Identification. — Very easil}^ recognised among all Indian sea- 

 snakes on account of the disintegrate conditijn of the parietal 

 shields. An alternative method concerns the breadth and number 

 of the ventrals. These shields are so little enlarged in midbody 

 and posteriorly that they hardly deserve the name of shields, but 

 would be better considered as scales. Their number 130 to 219, 

 with their feeble development will establish the genus. Curtus ia 

 easily distinguished from hardwicki by the parietal shields being 



