CANTORIA. 165 



At Penang, Cantor says, it is numerous not only in fresh water 

 •and estnaries, but in the sea at some distance from the shore, 

 where it is sometimes taken in Ushing nets. It is of sluggish, not 

 fierce habits, and feeds on fishes and crustaceans. It is also 

 recorded from Singapore. 



Genus CANTORIA. 



Girard, Proc. Ac. Philad. 1857, y- ^^-^ 



Maxillary teeth 10 or 11, last longest and grooved ; anterior 

 mandibular teeth longest. Jlead small, not distinct from neck ; 

 eye very small, with round pupil ; head-shields large ; nostril in a 

 semidivided nasal, the cleft of which extends to the praefrontal ; 

 a single internasal, separating the nasals ; loreal present. Body 

 extremely elongate, slightly compressed ; scales smooth, without 

 pits, in 19 rows ; ventrals well developed, not keeled. Tail 

 moderate ; subcaudals in two rows. 



A single species. 



Fig. 51. — Head of Cainoria vioiacea. 



180. Cantoria vioiacea. 



Girard, 1. c. and U. S. Explor. Exped., Herp. p. 156, pi. xi, figs. 7- 

 10 (1808) ; Bouleng. Faun. Brit, lud., Kept. p. 380 (1890) ; id. 

 Cat. Sn. iii, p. i>.3 (1896) ; S. Flower, P. Z. S. 1899, p. 679. 



Cantoria domjata, Giinth. Kept. Brit. Ind. p. '211 (1864). 



Prontal a little longer than broad, shorter than its distance from 

 the end of the snout or than the parietals ; eye between 4 shields 

 —a prseocular, a supraocular, a postocular, and a subocular; loreal 

 longer than deep; one elongate anterior temporal; 5 upper 



