164 



REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS 



attained by any Sea-Snake is only ten feet in length. Of 

 course we have heard of the gigantic " sea-serpents," but 

 from the little we know about this problematic monster, 

 it is certainly not a snake. 



The HydrophincB are divided up into ten genera and 

 about sixty species ; they are all viviparous, the female 

 visiting the rocks of small islands to give birth to her 



Fig. 8. — Sea-snake, Enhydra valakadien. 



(^After BouUnger.) 



offspring, which she protects for the first few days of their 

 existence by coiling round them. 



Elaps, with thirty species, the largest genus of the 

 sub-family Elapina, is distributed over the Southern 

 United States and Central and South America. The 

 body is usually much elongate and cylindrical ; the tail 

 is short ; all the scales are smooth. The head is quite 



