HYDKOPHIS TORQUATA. 369 



rings of black colour. The width of these rings is equal on the sides and on the belly ; on the 

 vertebral line only they are a little broader ; they are narrower than the interspaces, which 

 occupy from four to five transverse series of scales, whilst a black ring occupies only three. 

 The interspaces are greenish olive on the back, yellowish on the sides and on the belly. The 

 crown of the head and the upper lip are blackish, a yellow band running along the whole 

 upper margin of the head ; lower jaw whitish. Tail with from nine to eleven black cross 

 bars. 



I have examined three specimens of this species ; they are from the coast of Bengal ; the 

 largest is 40 inches long, the cleft of the mouth measuring ^ inch, the tail 4 inches. AVe 

 have given three views of the head, and one of a portion of the body. 



Htdbophis elegans. (Plate XXV. figs. K, K'.) 



Hydrophis doliata. Gray, Zool. Misc. p. 62, and Viper. Snakes, p. 51 (not synon.). 

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



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 postoculars. Two pairs of chin-shields, the anterior of which 

 are in contact with each other. Twenty-eight series of scales round the neck. Scales imbri- 

 cate, 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, from 330-415 

 in number. Six anal shields. Trunk with from forty-two to forty-eight black or blackish- 

 olive cross bands, rounded laterally, extending downwards to the middle of the sides, rather 

 broader than the interspaces of the ground-colour ; belly with a narrow black longitudinal 

 band. Head entirely black, separated from the first cross band by a narrow white ring. 

 The young specimen has a transverse series of small black spots in the middle of each inter- 

 space between the black cross bands; and an irregular series of small round black spots 

 runs along each side of the belly, 



I have seen three specimens of this species, an adult, a half-grown, and a young, the latter 

 being the typical specimen of Gray's Aturia elegans. Two are from the north coast of 

 Australia, and one from New South Wales. The largest is 50 inches long, the cleft of the 

 mouth measuring 7 lines, and the tail o^ inches. We have given three views of the head of 

 the old example, and one of a portion of the body of the young {Aturia elegans). 



Hydrophis torquata. (Plate XXV. fig. H.) 



? Polyodontes annulatus. Less., in Belong. Voy. Ind. Zool. Rept. p. 325. pi. 4 (bad figure). 

 Hydroiohis nigrocincta (young), Schley. Phys. Serp. ii. p. 506. pi. 18. figs. 11 & 12 (not synon.). 

 Hydrus nigTocinctus, Cantor, Mai. Rejjt. p. 128. 



Head rather small and narrow, its length being nearly twice its width ; neck slender, less 



3b 



