374 OPHIDIA. 



I have examined five specimens of this species, one of which is the type of Shaw's 

 H. gracilis. Two of them are from Madras ; those mentioned by Schmidt and Fischer from 

 Java. The largest is 33 inches long, the cleft of the mouth measuring half an inch, the 

 length of the tail 2f inches. 



Hydrophis fasciata. (Plate XXV. figs. Q, Q'.) 



Russell, Ind. Serp. i. taf. 44. 



Hydrus fasciatus, Schneid. Hist. Amph. p. 241. Shaw, Zool. iii. p. 563. 



Anguis mamillaris, Baud. Hist. Rept. vii. p. 340. 



Head very small, of moderate width ; neck slender, but the thin part of the body is much 

 less than one-half of the total length. Upper jaw slightly projecting beyond the lower; 

 I'ostral shield broader than long, not cutting in front ; two postoculars ; the third upper labial 

 is not in contact with the nasal. Two pairs of chin-shields, in contact with each other. 

 Twenty-five series of scales round the neck ; scales with a small central tubercle, ventral 

 shields with two. The ventral shields are twice as large as the scales of the adjoining series, 

 and remain undivided and distinct to the vent; they are 316 in number: six small anal 

 shields. Trunk with forty-three deep-black rings which are well defined, broadest on the 

 back, and nearly twice as broad as the yellow interspaces ; on the neck the black rings are, 

 comparatively, still broader, but never confluent. All the rings are confluent on the belly, 

 the lower parts from the chin to the extremity of the tail being deep black ; head luiiform 

 black, with two or three yellowish dots behind the eye ; tail black, with three short yellomsh 

 bars across its basal half. 



Russell's specimen was from Vizagapatam : our example (the only one I have seen) was 

 taken on the same coast ; it is a male, 26 inches long, the cleft of the mouth measuring 

 5 lines, and the tail 2^ inches. A small specimen in the British Museum, mentioned in 

 Dr. Gray's Catalogue of Viperine Snakes, p. 51, as Hydroj)his fasciata, Shaw, and believed 

 by him to be Russell's typical specimen, differs from Russell's description as well as from the 

 figure, and is probably a young example of H. cantoris. Shaw's description is evidently not 

 taken from the specimen in the British Museum, but is merely a repetition of the account 

 given by Russell. We have given three ^iews of the head, and one of a portion of the body, 

 of the natural size. 



Htdeophis cantoris. (Plate XXV. fig. U.) 



Hydrus gracilis, Cantor, Mai. Rept. p. 130 (not synoii.). 



? Liopola fasciata, Gray, Zool. Misc. p. 60 (young) (not Schneid. nor Shaw). 



Head very small, narrow ; neck very slender, the thin part of the body forming nearly one- 

 half of the total length. Upper jaw scarcely projecting beyond the lower ; rostral shield 

 narrow, produced backwards, not cutting in front ; one postocular ; the thil'd upper labial in 

 contact with the nasal ; two large temporal shields along the side of the occipital. Two 



