224 



upper labials; chin-shields usually broken up into scales. Body- 

 short and stout, compressed behind the neck; scales 



very small, juxtaposed, 

 in 89— 100 rows, dorsals 

 with a central tubercle 

 or keel; ventrals small, 

 310—370. 



Pale olive-grey above, 

 with dark transverse bars 

 narrower than the inter- 

 spaces and tapering to a 

 point on the sides. Lower 

 surface white. Length of 

 head and body 520 mm.; 

 tail 80 mm. 



Habitat: Java (mouth of the Mengala river!). — Malay 

 Peninsula. 



55. Hydrus Schneider. 

 (Schneider, Hist. Amph. I p. 233, 1799). 



Snout long; nostrils superior; eye small; pupil round; head- 

 shields large; nasals in contact; praeocular present; no loreal. 

 Maxillary teeth two fangs, separated by a short interspace 

 from 7 — 8 smaller teeth. Body short, covered with juxtaposed 

 scales; ventrals indistinct. 



Distribution. Indian and Pacific Oceans. 



A single species. 



Fig. 87. Thalassophis annandalei 

 (Laidlaw). Head from above. 



I. Hydrus platurus (L.). 



Anguis platura^ Linne, Syst. Nat. I 1766, p. 391. 



Hydrus platurus^ Boulenger, Cat. Sn. Ill 1896, p. 267 (s. syn.). 



Rostral as deep as broad or a little more broad; nasals 

 large, superior; praefrontals in contact with the second labial; 

 frontal large, at least as long as the parietals; one or two 

 prae- and two or three postoculars; sometimes one or two 

 suboculars; temporals small; seven or eight irregular upper 

 labials, fourth and fifth usually entering the eye; chin-shields 

 small or indistinct. Scales smooth in the female and young, 

 laterals and ventrals with one to three tubercles in the male, 

 in 45—47 rows, juxtaposed. 



Yellow above, with brown, black-edged bands across the 



