68 AUSTRALIAN? SNAKES. 



Some account of the organisation of these reptiles 

 has been given in part I. (p. 17) it therefore only- 

 remains to enumerate the several Australian species 

 which are assigned to six genera. 



Ringed Sea Snake. 



Platurus coluhriniis, Schneider. 

 S. 21-25, y. 195-240, S.C. 30-45. 

 Length, 4 feet 3 inches. 



Wandering" Sea Snake. 



Platurus laticaudatus, Linnaeus. 



S. 19, V. 210-245, S.C. 25-45. 



Length, 3 feet 3 inches. 



The two snakes are similar in habit, appearance, 

 and distribution, ranging from the Bay of Bengal to the 

 Chinese Sea and the Western South Pacific. They are 

 sometimes observed on the beaches around Port Jackson, 

 and occasionally escape by wriggling into the water, a 

 manoeuvre of which the commoner Yellow-bellied Sea 

 Snake is incapable. The members of this genus ex- 

 hibit a less departure from ordinary snakes than do any 

 any of the others, they agree with land snakes in having 

 imbricate scales and large ventral plates, and by having 

 the nostrils placed at the side of the head and not on 

 the top of the snout ; they are also less aquatic than 

 other sea snakes, and have frequently been observed 

 traversing the land, sometimes at considerable distances 

 from water. 



