48 NATURAL SCIENCE. ^arch. 



species have a very wide distribution ; Hydrus bicolor occurring 

 throughout the Indian and tropical Pacific Oceans, and the extreme 

 points from which it is on record being the Cape of Good Hope, 

 Posiette Bay (Mantchuria), New Zealand, the West Coast of Mexico, 

 and Guayaquil. Several species extend from the Persian Gulf to 

 New Guinea and North Australia, or from the Bay of Bengal and the 

 Chinese Sea to New Caledonia. One species is stated to be con- 

 fined to fresh water — Hydrophis semperi, from Lake Taal, in Luzon 

 (Garman, 8). 



The Hydrophids being most abundant in the Arabian Gulf and 

 the Bay of Bengal, it is in the works dealing with the Fauna of India 

 that the greatest amount of information respecting them is to be 

 found. Gtinther's " Reptiles of British India " (9), contains a com- 

 plete account of the species known in 1864 ; Fayrer's (6) " Thana- 

 tophidia " gives effective coloured figures of several species ; excellent 

 figures appear in Jan's " Iconographie " (11) ; whilst a revision up to 

 date of all the species known from the coasts of India, Ceylon, and 

 Burma will be found in my volume of the "Fauna of India" (3). 

 Boettger's notes on secondary sexual characters in Hydrophis (2) is 

 another important recent addition to our knowledge of this most 

 interesting group of Snakes. 



REFERENCES. 



1. Bavay, A. — Catalogue des Reptiles de la Nouvelle Caledonia et description 



d'especes nouvelles. Mem. Soc. Linn. Normand , xv., 1869, 37 PP- 



2. Boettger, O. — Ueber aussere Geschlechtscharactere bei den Seeschlangen. 



Zool, Anz., 1888, pp. 395-398. 



3. Boulenger, G. A. — The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. 



Reptilia and Batrachia. London: 1890, 8vo. 



4. Cantor, T. — Catalogue of Reptiles inhabiting the Malayan Peninsula and 



Islands. Journ. As. Soc. Beng.,xvi., 1847. Also published separately, Calcutta: 

 1847, 8vo. 



5. Dumeril, A. M. C, and Bibron, G. — Erpetologie Generale ou Histoire 



naturelle complete des Reptiles. Vol. vii. Paris : 1854, 8vo. 



6. Fayrer, J. — The Thanatophidia of India, being a Description of the Venomous 



Snakes of the Indian Peninsula, with an Account of the Influence of their 

 Poison on Life, and a Series of E.xperiments. Second edition. London: 1874, 

 folio. 



7. Forne, F. — Note sur un cas de mort par morsure de Serpent de mer. 



Noumea : 1888, 8vo, 18 pp., i pi. 



8. Garman, S. — Hydrophis semperi, sp.n. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., viii., 1881, 



p. 85. 



9. Giinther, A.— The Reptiles of British India. London (Ray Society) : 



1864, 4to. 



10. Jagor, F.— Reisen in den I'hilippinen. Berlin: 1873, Svo. 



11. Jan, G. — Iconographie Generale des Ophidiens. Milan: 1860-81, 4to. 



