396 COLUBRIDJE. 



An azygons shield between the prsefrontals, and sometimes one 

 or two between the interuasals ; one prse- and two postoeulars ; 

 6 or 7 npper labials, third and fourth entering the eye ; temporals 

 1 + 2 or 2 + 2. Scales in 21-25 rows. Ventral s not keeled, 

 195-240 ; subcaudals 30-45. Olive above, yellowish below, with 

 black annuli which are as wide as the interspaces between them 

 or narrower. 



Total length 5 feet. 



Ilab. Same as the preceding. According to observations recently 

 made in Japan, this snake does not bite. 



Genus ENHYDRIS, 

 Merrem, Tent. Syst. Amph. p. 140, 1820. 



Maxillary short, about as long as the transpalatine, with a pair 

 of large gi'ooved fangs followed, after a considerable interval, by 

 two to four small solid teeth. Nostrils superior; nasal shields in 

 contact with each other ; head-shields lai'ge. Body short and 

 stout. All the scales hexagonal or squarish and juxtaposed. 

 Ventrals very feebly developed, if at all distinct. 



Only two species : — 



Parietals broken up into small shields E. curtus, p. 396. 



Parietals large E. hardwickii, p. 397. 



489. Enhydris curtus. 



Ilydrus curtus, Shaw, Zoo!, iii, p. 502. 



Enhydris cuitus, Merr. Tent. p. 140. 



Ilydrophis propinquus, Jan, Rev. et Mag. Zool, 1859, p. 151, and 



Icon. Ophid. 41, pL i, tig. 2. 

 Ilydrophis curta, Oiinth. Kept. B. I. p. 379; Fayrer, Thanatoph. 



pi. xxiv; Stoliczka, P. A. 8. B. 1872, p. 91 ; Murray , Zool, Sind, 



p. 395. 



Parietals broken up into small shields ; one pra)- and one or 

 two postoeulars ; two or three superposed anterior temporals ; 7 

 upper labials, fourth, or third and fourth, entering the eye; chin- 

 shields very small, and separated by scales, or quite indistinct. 

 30 to 38 scales round the anterior part of the body, 33 to 42 round 

 the middle, with a very feebly-developed tubercle or sliort keel ; 

 the scales on the lower surface, in the male, with a very strong 

 spinose tubercle. Ventrals distinct in the anterior half of the 

 body, with two spinose tubercles in the male, 150-200*. Above 

 with dark transverse bands, broadest in the middle ; these bands 

 are usually very dark, nearly black, but in some old specimens 

 rather indistinct ; end of tail black. 



Total length 2^ feet. 



Hah. Coasts of India and Ceylon. 



* As remarked by Stoliczka in this species, and by Boettger in the fullowing, 

 lie males have fewer scales than the females. 



