COMMUNICATED BY THOS. STEEL. 363 



name can l^e defended on any of the laws which govern synonymy. 

 The three other species referred by Schneider to the genus 

 Hydrus belong to the other groups of colubrine snakes; they are ; 

 (1) H. granulatus, an aglyphous form, of which the correct name 

 is Chersydrus granulatus, (2) H. enhydris (I.e. p. 245), and (3) 

 II. rhynchops (I.e. p. 246), opisthoglyphous snakes, which are now 

 generally recognised as Hypsirhina enhydris and Cerberus rhyn- 

 chops. Each of these species has an equal title, perhaps I should 

 be more ' correct in saying an equally bad title, to the name 

 Hydrus as the Anguis platura has. I have not the books of 

 reference necessary to determine whether Pelamis can be used 

 for this species, but it is significant that no less than nine pages 

 (357 to 366) separate the diagnosis of the genus Pelamis from 

 that of the species bicolor. In any case Hydrus is only a synonym 

 of Laticauila, Platurus, Daudin, which Dr. Boulenger uses, being 

 later than either of these. I would, therefore, prefer to call our 

 species Lalicauda muelleri. 



Pisces. 



The collection of fishes contains 10 specimens, all of which are 

 in bad condition, and, with the exception of two (Nos. 2 and 6), 

 immature. They are as follows : — 



1. Plotosus arab, Forskal. 



2. Lycodontis finbriatus, Bennett. 



3. Atherina sp. 



4. Therapon jarbua, Forskiil. 



5. Moiiacanthus tonientosits, Linnaeus. 



6. Periophthalmus koelreuteri, Pallas. 



7. Platophrys sp. 



iv. Insecta and Arachnida — By W. J. Rainbow.* 



The collection of insects, etc., enumerated below is essentially 

 typical of the Arthropod fauna of the Austro-Malayan region. 

 Many of them are peculiarly Papuan; some few are found in 

 other parts of the Pacific ; and two at any rate, namely, the 

 cockroach, Panesthia cethops, and the centipede, Scolopendra 

 morsica7is, have a world-wide distribution. 



