98 AUSTEALIAN SNAKES. 



EimirDEIlTjfL Gray. 



Differing from Hydrophls only by having a deep, longitvidinal 

 notch in front of the lower jaw. 



Only one species is known. 

 Bbngax Sea Snake. Enhydrina bengalensis. 



Enhydrina bengaleusis, Gray. Viper. Snakes, p. 48, and Giintlier, Bept. Brit. India. 

 p. 381. 



Scales in 48 rows. 



Abdominals, 284 to 314. 



Total length, 48 inches. 



New-born young snake, 10^ inches. 



Habitat, from the Sea of Bengal to the Coast of New Guinea. 



Pelamis, sp. Daud. 



Head flat, with very long, spatulate snout ; neck rather stout ; body 

 of moderate length. Nasal shields contiguous, longer than broad, j^ierced 

 by the nostril posteriorly ; only one pair of frontals. Scales not imbricates 

 not polished, tubercular or concave. Ventral shields none, or very narrow. 

 Lower jaw without notch in front. 



Yellow-bellied Sea Snake. Pelamis bicolor. 



(Plate XII, fig. 19.) 

 Bussell, Lid. Serp., I, p. -±7, pi. 41. 



Hydrus bicolor, Schneid, Hist. Amph., p. 242. Cantor, Mai. Sept., p. 135. 

 Pelamis bicolor, Daud., Bept., VII, p. 366. Gray, Viper. Snakes, p. 41. Fischer, 

 Ahhandl. Naturiv. Hamh., 18.56, p. 61. Giiutber, Bept. Brit. India, p. 382. 

 Hydropbis variegata, Schleg. Faun. Jap., tab, 8. 



pelamis, Schleg. Fhys. Serp., II, p. 508, pi. 18, figs. 13 — 15. 



Pelamis oriiata, Gray, Viper. Snakes, p. 43. 



Scales in 45 to 51 rows. 



Abdominals (or scales from mouth to vent longitudinally), 



378 to 440. 

 Total length, 36 inches. 



Two or three postorbitals. Neck surrounded by from forty-five to 

 fifty-one longitudinal series of scales. From 378 to 440 scales in a lateral 

 longitudinal series, between the angle of the mouth and the vent. Colo- 

 ration variable. 



