42 



II. Body and tail compressed, a fold below 2. Chersydrus p. 43. 



B. Ventral shields well developed. 



a. Head covered with uniform scales 3. Xenodermus p. 44. 



b. Head covered with symmetrical shields 4. Stoliczkaia p. 45. 



Aquatic snakes. Scales not imbricate. 



I. Acrochordus Hornstedt. 



(HORNSTEDT, Abh. Acad. Stockholm VIII p. 307, 1787). 



Head not distinct from neck, small, covered with small 

 juxtaposed scales; nostrils on the top of the snout, close together; 

 eye very small; pupil vertically elliptic; teeth almost equal, 

 about 15 in each maxillary. Body stout, a little compressed, 

 covered with small, tubercular, spinose scales ; no ventral shields. 

 Tail short, round, prehensile. 



Distribution. Malay Peninsula and Archipelago to New Guinea. 



A single species. 



Fig. 22. Acrochordus javanicus Hornst. X V-i* 

 Side view of head ; n nostril. 



