AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 95 



HTTIDEOPIIIS. 

 HydropUis, sp. Baud. 



Posterior part of the body strongly compressed ; head short, or of 

 moderate length, shielded above ; only one pair of frontals ; nostrils 

 superior, in a single nasal shield, both nasals being contiguous to each 

 other ; scales imbricate or not without polish, generally with a tubercle 

 or with a keel ; ventral shields very narroAv, or quite rudimentary, or entirely 

 absent ; lower jaw without notch in front. 



Stokes' Sea Snake. Hydrophis stokesii. 



(Plate XII, fig. 17.) 

 Hydrus stokesii, Ch-ay in Stokes' Australia, I, p. 502, tab. 3. 

 Hydrophis stokesii, Gunther, Rept. of Brit. India, p. 363. 



Total length, 61 inches. 



4|^ inches high. 



10 inches in circumference. 



Head rather short and broad ; body stout. Two or three labial 

 shields below the eye ; two postoculars ; chin covered with scales, with no 

 other shields but the mental and labials. Forty-three to forty-seven series 

 of scales round the neck. Scales rather small, much imbricated, keeled, 

 each keel being interrupted in the middle. The ventral shields are replaced 

 by two series of smooth scales, not larger than the scales of the adjoining 

 series, the scales of the two ventral series being arranged opposite to each 

 other. Young specimens and adult males have broad black cross bands, 

 either extending over the back only or entirely surrounding the body. 

 The interspaces between them are generally again divided by a narrow 

 transverse black streak or series of black spots. Old females are almost 

 entirely uniformly greyish above and whitish below. 



Habitat, Northern Coast of Australia. 

 Belcher's Sea Snake. Hydrophis belcheri. 



Aturia belelieri, Grray, Viper. Snakes, B. M., p. 46. 

 Hydrophis belcheri, Giiiither, Bejjt. Brit. India, p. 36-1. 



Scales in 25 rows (near neck). 

 Abdominals, 317. 

 Total length, 34 inches. 

 Head, \ inch. 

 Tail, 3J inches. 



