239 



lighter on the crown. Lower surface yellowish. Length of head 

 and body 735 mm.; tail 75 mm. 



Type-specimen examined in the British Museum. 



Habitat: New Guinea!. 



22. Hydrophis pachycercus Fischer. 



Hydrophis pachycercos, Fischer. Abh. Naturw. Hamb. Ill 1856, p. 44, pi. II. 

 Distira pacUyccrais^ Boulenger, Cat. Sn. Ill 1896, p. 297. 



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

 the frontal, more than twice as long as the suture between 

 the praefrontals; frontal more long than broad, as long as its 

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

 and two pcstoculars; two superposed anterior temporals; eight 

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

 fifth divided; two pair of chin-shields in contact. Body stout; 

 scales imbricate anteriorly, juxtaposed posteriorly, keeled, each 

 keel formed of two tubercles, in 38 or 39 rows (27 — 29 ante- 

 riorly); ventrals distinct. 258 — 260. 



Yellowish above, with dark transverse bands; head and nape 

 brown; end of tail black. Lower parts white. Length of head 

 and body 820 mm.; tail iio mm. 



Habitat: Malay Archipelago!. 



23. Hydrophis stokesi (Gray). 



Hydrus stokesii^ Gray, in Stokes, Discov. Austr. I 1846, p. 502, pi. III. 

 Distira stokcsii^ Boulenger, Cat. Sn. Ill 1896, p. 288. 



Astroiia stokesi^ Wall, Mem. Asiat. Soc. Bengal II N^. 8 1909, p. 250, fig. 65 — 67. 

 Hydrophis slokesii^ Boulenger, Kept. Malay Benin. 1912, p. 183. 



Rostral as deep as broad; nasals more than twice as long 

 as the suture between the praefrontals; latter usually in contact 

 with the second or second and third labials; frontal more 

 long than broad; one prae- and two (three) postoculars; tem- 

 porals two or three superposed scales; nine or ten upper labials, 

 fourth to sixth entering the eye, if not divided and forming 

 suboculars; chin-shields absent. Body stout; scales imbricate, 

 pointed, keeled or the keels broken up into two tubercles, in 

 48 — 59 rows (39 — 48 anteriorly), the last rows irregularly 

 dentate; ventrals 230 — 267, anteriorly a few entire, rest divided 

 into two, pointed and very much like the adjacent scales. 



Yellowish or pale brown, with broad black transverse bands 



