184 COLUBBID.^. 



round thickest part of body ; scales much imbricate in the adult, 

 pointed, keeled, the keels frequently broken up into two tubercles. 

 Ventrals usually distinct only quite anteriorly, then in pairs and 

 not lai'ger than the adjoining scales, 230-267. Yellowish or pale 

 brownish, with broad black dorsal cross-bands, or with complete 

 black annuli. 



Total length 1510 millim. ; tail 200. 



From the Mekrau Coast and the Chinese Sea to the North 

 Coast of Australia. Two specimens from Singapore (one of 

 which is the type of Gray's H. annulatus) are preserved in the 

 British Museum. 



This snake produces 12 to 14 young, the length of which is 

 from 30 to 42 millim. 



198. HydropMs ornatus. 



Aturia ornata, Gray, Zool. Misc. p. 61 (1842). 



Hydrophis ocellatn, Gray, Cat. Sn. p. 53 (1849); Giinth. Kept. 



Brit Ind. p. 378, pi. xkv, fig. P (1864). 

 Hydrophis or^iuta, Giuitli. op. cit. p. 376, pi. xxv, fig. V. 

 Hi/drophis ellioti, Giinth. op. cit. p. 377, pi. xxv, fig. N. 

 Distira oniafa, Bouleng. Faun. Brit. Ind., Kept. p. 411 (1890) ; id. 



Cat. Sn. iii, p. 290 (1896). 



Head moderate ; body moderately elongate. Eye as long as or 

 a little longer than its distance from the mouth. Rostral broader 

 than deep ; frontal longer than broad, as long as or a little longer 

 than its distance from the rostral or the end of the snout; one 

 prse- and two or three postoculai^s ; 2 or 3 superposed anterior 

 temporals ; 7 or 8 upper labials, third and fourth entering the 

 eye ; anterior chin-shields in contact, posterior, if distinct, sepa- 

 rated by 2 or 3 scales. 35 to 42 scales round neck, 40 to 50 

 round thickest part of body ; scales feebly imbricate anteriorly, 

 juxtaposed and hexagonal in the middle of the body, smooth in 

 the young, with a central tubercle or short keel in the adult. 

 Ventrals feebly enlarged, 210-300. Young with blackish cross- 

 bars, tapering on the sides, and with one or more lateral series of 

 roundish dark spots ; the bands may be confluent in some speci- 

 mens; which are uniform blackish olive above and white beneath. 

 Total length 1200 millim. ; tail 130. 



li'rom the Persian Gulf to North Australia. Kecorded from 

 the Gulf of Siam, and obtained at Patani by the Skeat Expe- 

 dition. 



199. Hydrophis bvugmansii. 



Boie, Isis, 1827, p. 554. 



Hydrus striatus, part., Cantor, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, xvi, 



p. 1047 (1847). 

 Hydrophis cyanoci^icta, part., Guntb. Rept. Brit. Ind. p. 367 



(1864). 



