96 . AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 



Head of moderate width and size ; neck not very slender, body of 

 moderate length. Rostral shield nearly as broad as long ; only the fourth 

 upper labial foi'ms the lower part of the orbit ; two postoculars ; three tem- 

 poral shields on the side of each occipital. Two pairs of chin-shields, which 

 are in contact with one another. Twenty-five series of scales round the neck> 

 scales but little imbricated, subtruncated behind, and those on the highest 

 part of the body, as broad as long, each with a short keel. Ventrals, 317 

 in number, more than twice as broad as the scales of the adjoining series, 

 without keel or tubercle. Four large anal shields. The tail terminates in 

 a very larged forked scale. Back brownish olive, with blackish cross 

 bands, separated by yellowish transverse streaks anteriorly ; these bands 

 become very indistinct towards the middle of the length of the animal. 

 Head and throat blackish ; a horse- shoe-like yellowish mark on the crown 

 of the head, resting with its convex anterior portion on the frontal shields. 

 Sides and belly yellowish. 



Habitat, coast of New Guinea. 



Elegant Sea Snake. Sydrophis elegans. 



(Plate XII, figs. 16, 16a, 16b.) 

 Hydrophis doliata, Orni/, Zool, Misc., p. 62, and Vifer Snakes, p. 51. 

 Aturia elegans, Gray, Zool. Misc., p. 61. 

 Hydrophis elegans, Giinther, Sept. Brit. India, p. 369. 



Scales in 28 rows. 



Abdominals, 330 to 415. 



Anal plates, 6. 



Total length, 50 inches. 



Head, 7 lines. 



Tail, 3^ inches. 

 Head rather small and narrow ; neck slender, less than one-third of 

 the total length ; body elongate. Rostral shield as high as, or higher than, 

 broad ; the labial below the eye is split into two or three pieces ; two post- 

 oculars. Two pairs of chin shields, the anterior of which are in contact 

 with each other. Twenty-eight series of scales round the neck. Scales 

 imbricate, keeled, rhombic, those on the highest part of the body about as 

 high as long. Ventrals twice or thrice as broad as the scales of the 

 adjoining series, bitubercular, and from 330-115 in number. Six anal shields. 

 Trunk with from forty-two to forty-eight black or blackish olive cross 



