ElS'HTDEiyA. 405 



scales round the neck, 29 to 33 round the middle o£ the body ; 

 scales smooth, rhomboidal and imbricate anteriorly, elsewhere 

 hexagonal, juxtaposed, each with two or more tubercles, which 

 are feeble in the female and very strong in the male. Ventrals 

 distinct only anteriorly, very feebly enlarged, 225-294. Bluish 

 black or greyish olive above in the adult, with more or less distinct 

 lighter cross bauds anteriorly. Young with the head and neck 

 black, the latter region with light transverse bands ; body with 

 rhomlDic black cross bands continued on to the belly, or sub- 

 interrupted on the sides, or black w ith a series of elliptical vertical 

 whitish spots on each side. 



Total length 3 feet. 



Hah. From the Persian Gulf aud the Makniu coast, along the 

 coasts of India and Burma to the Indian Archipelago. 



503. Hydrophis cantoris. 



Ilydriis gracilis, part., Cantor, J. A. S. B. xvi, 1847, p. 10.51. 

 Ilydrophis cantoris, Giinth. Bept. B. I. p. 374, pi. xxv, fig. U ; Anders. 

 P. Z. S. 1871, p. 192 ; Boettger, Ber. Scnck. Ges. 1889, p. 304. 



Head very small, narrow ; body long, extremely slender an- 

 teriorly. Eostral considerably deeper than broad ; frontal small, 

 longer than broad, hardly as long as its distance from the rostral ; one 

 prae-and one postocular ; a single anterior temporal, followed by a 

 second equally large shield ; (5 upper labials, third and fourth 

 entering the eye ; two pairs of small chin-shields, in contact with 

 each other. 23 to 25 scales round the neck, 41 round the middle 

 of the body; scales smooth, rhomboidal and imbricate anteriorly, 

 elsewhere hexagonal, juxtaposed, each with two or three tubercles 

 one before the other. Ventrals hardly enlarged, 412-456. Body 

 dark olive or blackish anteriorly, with yellow ish cross bands above : 

 posterior part of body olive above, yellowish on the sides ; tail 

 with oliA'e vertical bars ; a blackish streak along the bellv. 



Total length 4 feet. 



Hah. The type specimen is from Pinang. Others have been 

 obtained from the mouth of the Hooghly, Gaujam, aud Madras. 



Genus ENHYDRINA, 

 Gray, Cat. Snakes, p. 47, 1849. 



Maxillary a little longer than transpalatine, with a pair of large 

 grooved fangs, followed by four solid teeth. Nostrils superior: 

 nasals in contact with each other ; head- shields large ; mental 

 narrow, partly concealed in a deep symphysial groove. Body 

 moderately elongate ; scales imbricate. A'entrals distinct, very 

 small. 



A single species. 



