231 



Black above, with yellow rings on the anterior part of the 

 body, the anterior rings interrupted beneath; posterior part 

 with narrow olive interspaces above between black broad rings, 

 and broader yellow interspaces below; head black, with a 

 horse-shoe-shaped yellow marking. Length of head and body 

 875 mm.; tail 95 mm. 



Type-specimen examined in the British Museum. 



Habitat: Borneo! (Sarawak river). 



Note. The female specimen in the British Museum contained 

 young ones with the praefrontals in contact. 



8. Hydrophis torquatus Giinther. 



Hydrophis toyqttata^ Giinther, Rept. Brit. Ind. 1864, p. 369, pi. XXV, fig. H. 

 Hydrophis torquatus^ Boulenger, Cat. Sn. Ill 1896, p. 283; Rept. Malay Penin. 

 1912, p. 190. 



Head small; eye as long as its distance from the mouth. 

 Rostral more broad than deep; nasals longer than the frontal, 

 at least twice as long as the suture between the praefrontals ; 

 frontal small, shorter than its distance from the rostral; one 

 prae- and one postocular; a single anterior temporal; six or 

 seven upper labials, third and fourth entering the eye, some 

 of the posterior may be divided; posterior chin-shields separated 

 or in contact. Body long, very slender anteriorly; scales im- 

 bricate, keeled, in 43 — 45 rows (33 — 35 anteriorly); ventrals 

 240 — 290, mostly entire. 



Greyish-olive above, yellow below, with black annuli, nar- 

 rower on the sides; head dark, with a curved yellow marking 

 from the temporal region passing above the eye, to the nasals. 

 Length of head and body 510 mm.; tail 50 mm. 



Type-specimens examined in the British Museum. 



Habitat: „East Indies"!; Sumatra (Bagan Api Api!) — 

 Bay of Bengal ; Strait of Malacca. 



9. Hydrophis viperinus (Schmidt). 



Thalassophis viperina^ Schmidt, Abh. Natuvw. Hamb. II 1852, p. 79, pi. III. 

 Distira viperina^ Boulenger, Cat. Sn. Ill 1896, p. 298. 



Head small; rostral as deep as broad; nasals as long as or 

 shorter than the frontal ; suture between the praefrontals very 

 short; they are separated from the labials; frontal as broad 

 as long, as long as its distance from the rostral or the tip of 



