380 OPHIDIA. 



I have examined six specimens of this species, one of which is the type, described by 

 Shaw. The largest is only 17 inches long, the cleft of the mouth being f inch, the tail 

 If inch. Madras is the only well-authenticated locality where it has been found. 



Hydbophis hardwickii. (Plate XXV. fig. W.) 



Lapemis hardwickii^ Gi'ay, Zool. Misc. p. 60, and Ind. Zool. c. fig. 



? Hydrophis pelamidoides, Schleg. Phys. Serp. ii. p. 512. 



Hydrophis pelamidoides, Schleg. Faun. Japon. Rept. pi. 9. 



Hydrophis pelamidoides (part.), Fischer, Abhandl. Naturw. Hamb. 1856, iii. p. 64. 



Head short, thick, obtuse ; anterior part of the body stout ; body not elongate. Occipitals 

 not broken up into smaller shields. Chin-shields small, separated by two or three series of 

 small scales. Only one postocular (exceptionally two). Twenty-nine to thirty-three series of 

 scales round the neck ; 150-176 scales in a longitudinal series between the throat and the 

 vent. No distinct ventral shields ; four or six small prseanal shields. Scales smooth in the 

 young, and with a central tubercle in the adult. In fresh adult specimens which have not 

 lost the epidermis, each scale of the eight ventral series is provided with a long central spine. 

 Forty-one to forty-three broad blackish bands across the back, extending downwards to the 

 middle of the sides, where they are narrower, rounded ; they are separated by narrow inter- 

 spaces of the ground-colour, and are sometimes more or less confluent along the vertebral line. 

 The lower half of the side and the belly yellowish. Forehead Avith a whitish cross band 

 before the eyes, which disappears with age; the young with a distinct yellowisli temple- 

 streak. Tail black, with from three to five yellowish bands across its basal half. 



I have examined six examples of this species, one of which is tlie typical specimen ; several 

 circumstances lead me to suppose that it was procured at Pinang; it is 20 inches long, cleft 

 of the mouth f inch, tail 2\ inches. Another specimen is 30 inches long. 



Hydbophis loreata. 



Lapemis loreatus. Gray, Ann. ^ Mag. Nat. Hist. 1843, xi. p. 46. 



■ hardwickii, var.. Gray, Viper. Snakes, p. 44. 



? Hydrophis pelamidoides, var. annulata, Fischer, Abhandl. Naturw. Hamb. 1856, iii. p. 67. 



Head short, thick, obtuse ; anterior part of the body stout ; body not elongate. Occipitals 

 not broken up into smaller shields. Chin-shields small, separated by two or three series of 

 small gular scales ; only the anterior pair are sometimes slightly in contact with each other. 

 Only one postocular. Twenty-seven to thirty-one series of scales round the neck ; no distinct 

 ventral shields, but the three or four lower lateral series are considerably larger than the 

 others; there are 145-158* scales in the third lower series, between angle of the mouth and 



* 145 in two specimens, 147 in a third, 155 in a fourth, 158 in a fifth. 



