372 OPHIDIA. 



Hydeophis l.\tifasciata. (Plate XXV. fig. T.) 



Head small, not quite twice as long as broad ; neck very slender, its length being one-thiixl 

 of the total. Rostral shield quadrangular, broader than long ; one postocular ; the third 

 upper labial is not in contact with the nasal ; two large temporal shields along the side of 

 each occipital, the anterior entering the labial margin. Two pairs of small chin-shields, the 

 anterior of which are in contact with each other. Twenty-three series of scales round the 

 neck. Scales imbricate, keeled, those on the highest part of the body rounded, as high as 

 long. Ventral shields distinct : the anterior twice as broad as the scales of the adjoining 

 series ; the posterior bicarinate, 322 in number. Four anal shields, the outer of which are 

 the larger. The tail terminates in a very large scale. Trunk with thirty-eight broad black 

 cross bands, which are confluent on the back as well as on the belly, and darker below than 

 above. The yellowish ground-colour appears only as a lateral series of large rounded spots. 

 Head black, with a fl-shaped yellow mark above. 



I have seen only a single example of this species ; it is in the British Museum, and was 

 sent from the coast of Mergui ; its total length is 30 inches, the cleft of the mouth being 

 f inch, and the tail 3 inches. 



Hydeophis coeonata. (Plate XXV. figs. M, M'.) 



Hydrophis hardwickii. Gray, MS. (not Lapemis hardwickii, Gran) • 

 fasciata. Gray, Viper. Snakes, p. 50, specimens a k, b (not synou.). 



Head very small, twice as long as broad ; neck very slender, its length being more than 

 one-third of the total. Rostral shield small, broader than long ; one postocular ; tlie third 

 upper labial is not in contact with the nasal. Two pairs of chin-shields, wJiich are in contact 

 with each other. Nineteen to twenty-three series of scales round the neck. Scales imbricate : 

 those on the highest part of the body higher than long, those on the sides with a small 

 tubercle, those on the back with a keel. Ventral shields very distinct, nearly twice as large 

 as the scales of the adjoining series, 321-337 in number, each with two small tubercles. 

 Four anal shields, the outer of Avhich are rather larger than the others. Trunk with from 

 fifty-three to fifty-nine complete blackish rings, which are broader than the interspaces of the 

 yellowish-olive ground-colour. Head and ventral side of the thin neck-like portion of the 

 body black ; the former with a yellow horseshoe-shaped mark across the frontals and nasals, 

 and extending backwards over the superciliary edge to the temple. Tail with ten or eleven 

 blackish cross bars. 



I have examined two specimens of this species ; they are from the coast of Bengal. The 

 larger is 37 inches long, the cleft of the mouth measuring 4 lines, the tail 3 J inches. We 

 have given an upper and lateral view of its head and one of a portion of its body (M'), all of 

 the natural size. 



