DISTIEA. 



413 



female with a feeble tubercle or keel, of adult male with a strong 

 spiuose tubercle. Yeutrals distinct throughout, 320-387. Youug 

 greyish olive above, white beneath, with com])lete black rings which 

 are" broadest on the back ; head black, with an angular yellow 

 (vermihon) band above, the apex on the snout ; tail black, with 

 w hitish ^■ertical bands at the base. In the adult the bands become 

 more obsolete and are not continued across the body, and the head 

 is uniform olive-brown. 

 Total length 3 feet. 



Hah. Coasts of Baluchistan, India, and Ceylon, 

 I regard //. la2>einoi<h's as the young, //. stewartii as the adult 

 female, and H. holdswortJiiias the fully developed male of one and 

 the same species. 



513. Distira viperina. 



Thalassuphis viperina, Schmidt, Ahh. Natnnv. Huinb. ii, i^e Abth. 



1852, p. 79, pi. iii. 

 Disteira pnesciitata, Bum. i^- Bibr. Erp. Gen. vii, ]>. 1331*. 

 llydropliis doHata, Fischer, Ahh. Natanc. Iliiinb. iii, 186(5, p. oiS. _ 

 :■' llydropliis obscunis (non DuiuL), Jan, liev. et May. Zuol. 1850, 



p! 151 ; id. Icon. Ophid. 40, pi. vi, tig. 2. 

 Ilydrophis viperiua, (iiinth. liept. IJ. I. p. 378 ; Anders. R Z. <S'. 1872, 



\h 400. 

 Ilydrophis jayaliari, ])<,Hhn</. A. M. X. H. (5) xx, 1887, p. 408. 

 Ilydrophis plumbea, Murray, Journ. Bomb, N. H. Sue. ii, 1887, p. 34. 



Head rather small ; body moderately elongate, rather slender 

 anteriorly. Eostral as deep as broad; nasals as long as or a little 

 shorter than the frontal; suture between the pnctrontals very 

 short; frontal as broad as long, as long as its distance from the 

 rostral or end of the snout, shorter than the parietals ; one or two 

 prse- and one or two postoculars ; 7 or 8 upper labials, second largest, 

 fourth or third and fourth entering the eye ; one or two anterior 

 temporals; two pairs of chin-shields, in contact with each other, 

 posterior longer. 27 to 29 scales round the neck, 37 to 43 round 

 the middle of the body; scales juxtaposed, obtusely keeled. Yeu- 

 trals large anteriorly, bituberculate in the male, 237-207. ISlaty 

 grey above, with rliomboidal transverse black spots, white or pink 

 on the sides and beneath ; some specimens uniform dark grey 

 above ; in the young, the black spots are continued down the sides 

 of the bodv ; end of tail black. 



Total length 3 feet. 



Hab. From the Persian Gulf and th':- Maknin coast, round the 

 coasts of India and Burma to Java, Hong Kong, and Hainan, 



* I have examined the type specimen in the Paris Museum. 



