Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 133 



the rest of the hody with very lax skin. In the young ones the neck 

 is covered by 47, the bulkiest part of the body by 57 longitudinal 

 series of smooth, somewhat tubercular scales. Older individuals have 

 these parts covered by 48 and GO series of hexagonal scales, either with 

 a short keel dividing the anterior half, or a central tubercle. Tbe 

 central, slightly raised, abdominal series commences very far back, from 

 one to three inches behind the chin. The anterior scales are wedge- 

 shaped hexagonal, the posterior are broader, but slightly larger, than 

 the rest, with a small elongated tubercle on each side. The largest 

 individual of a great number, was of the following dimensions : 



Length of the head, ft. 1 inch. 



Ditto ditto trunk, 3 If 



Ditto ditto tail, 4f 



3 ft. 7 inch. 

 Circumference of the neck, 2f, greatest do. of the trunk, 5 inch, 



IIydrus pelamidoides, (Schlegel.) 



Syn.* — Pelamis carinata, Cuvier, MS. 



Hydrophis (Disteira doliata, Lace]).) Wagler, 1830. 



Lapcmis hardwickii, Gray, 111. Ind. Zool. 1832. 



Hydrophis pelamidoides, Schlegel, 1837. 



Hydrophis pelamidoides, Temniinck and Schlegel, Fauna Japon. Tab. 9. 



Hydrophis pelamidoides, Schlegel, apud Cantor, 1. c. 



Young. — Sulphur coloured, paler on the sides and abdomen ; the head 

 largely spotted with blackish, through which the ground colour appears 

 in the form of a rectangle, the two sides of which pass from the hind- 

 head to the orbit, the anterior across the frontals, the posterior over the 

 hind-head ; two yellow spots between the nostrils ; lips yellow, cheeks 

 and throat blackish ; on the back a number of transversal blackish 

 bands to the middle of the sides, broader than the intervening yellow 

 lines ; tail black. Entire length 10§ inch. 



Adult ? — Head uniformly reddish brown above ; ground colour green- 

 ish yellow, lighter on the sides and beneath, with broad lozenge shaped 

 transversal bands of a blackish olive, continued on the anterior half of 

 the tail ; posterior half blackish. Iris dark olive ; pupil black ; tongue 

 buff. 



* Doubtful Syn— Russell, II, PI. 12, Shiddil, IWl.—Hydrus curtus, Shaw, 1802. 



