238 



Greenish-olive above, with blackish or olive transverse bars 

 or annuli, broadest on the back, sometimes connected by a 

 black band along the belly; or yellowish, with a black vertebral 

 band and a few black bars on the neck. Length of head and 

 body 1360 mm.; tail 140 mm. 



Habitat: Java! (Batavia); Aru Islands!; New Guinea 

 (Matterer Bay, near Astrolabe Bay); Indian Ocean!. — Persian 

 Gulf; Coast of India; Singapore!; China; Japan; Philippines. 



20. Hydrophis saravacensis (Boulenger). 



Distira saravacensis^ Boulenger, Pioc. Zool. Soc. 1900, p. 184, pi. XIV, fig. 2, 



Head moderate; rostral more broad than deep; nasals shorter 

 than the frontal, two times and a half as long as the suture 

 between the praefrontals, frontal almost twice as long as broad, 

 as long as its distance from the rostral, shorter than the 

 parietals; one or two prae- and one postocular; seven upper 

 labials, fourth or third and fourth entering the eye, second 

 largest; two superposed anterior temporals; both pairs of chin- 

 shields in contact. Body moderately long; scales imbricate, 

 keeled, in 43 rows (27 anteriorly); ventrals with two keels, 306. 



Blackish, with 85 yellowish rings, interrupted on the ventrals; 

 a chevron-shaped marking on the head, the apex on the 

 nasals, the branches on the praefrontals, the supra- and post- 

 oculars and on the temple. Length of head and body 630 mm.; 

 tail 80 mm. (After BoULENGER; not seen by me). 



Habitat: Borneo (Sarawak coast). 



21. Hydrophis belcheri (Gray). 



Aturia belcheri^ Gray, Cat. 1849, p. 46. 



Distira belcheri^ Boulenger, Cat. Sn. HI 1896, p. 296, pi. XVII, fig. 2. 



Head small; rostral as deep as broad; nasals shorter than 

 the frontal, twice the length of the suture between the prae- 

 frontals; frontal about twice as long as broad, as long as its 

 distance from the rostral, shorter than the parietals; one prae- 

 and two postoculars; two superposed anterior temporals; five 

 or six upper labials, fourth entering the eye; both pairs of 

 chin-shields in contact. Body long; scales imbricate anteriorly, 

 juxtaposed posteriorly, feebly keeled, in 34 rows (25 anteriorly); 

 ventrals distinct, smooth, 317. 



Olive above, neck with dark transverse bands; head dark. 



