186 COLUBRID^. 



Hi/drus striatus, part., Cantor, Jouru. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, xvi,. 



■p. 1047 (1847). 

 Hydrophis asjjera, Gray, Cat. Sn. p. 55 (1849) ; Giinth. op. cit. 



■p. 365. 

 Disth-a cyanocincta, Bouleng. Faun. Brit. Ind., Kept. p. 410 (1890) ;. 



id. Cat. Sn. iii, p. 294 (1896). 



Head moderate ; body elongate. Eye shorter than its distance 

 from tlie mouth in the adult. Eostral slightly broader than deep ; 

 frontal much longer than broad, as long as its distance from the 

 rostral or the end of the snout ; one prse- and two postoculars ; 

 two superposed anterior temporals ; 7 or 8 upper labials, third and 

 fourth, fourtli and fifth, or third, fourth, and fifth entering the 

 eye ; two pairs of chin-shields, in contact on the middle line, or 

 posterior pair separated by one scale. 27 to 33 scales round neck, 

 39 to 45 round thickest part of body ; scales rhomboidal and sub- 

 imbricate, with a short keel which is very strong, and broken up 

 into two or three tubercles, in adult males. Yentrals distinct 

 throughout, smooth or with two or more tubercles, 281-385. 

 Greenish olive above, with dark olive or black cross-bars or annuli, 

 broadest on the back, and sometimes joined by a black band 

 running along the belly ; or yellowish with a black vertebral 

 stripe sending off a few bar-like processes on the neck. 



Total length 1500 millim. : tail 140. 



Persian Gulf to Japan and New Guinea. The type of Gray's 

 H. aspera is from Singapore. 



202. Hydrophis jerdonii. 



Hydnis )ii(/rocinctus, var., Cantor, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, xvi, 



p. 1050,"pl. xl, tig. 8 (1847). 

 Kerilinjerdimii, Gray, Cat. Sn. p. ^)7 (1849). 

 Hydrophis jerdonii, Giinth. Kept. Brit. Ind. p. 362, pi. xxv, fig. B 



■(18t)4) ; Fayrer, Thanatoph. Ind. pi. xx (1874). 

 Distiru jerdonii, Bouleng. Faun. Brit. Ind., Kept. p. 408 (1890) ; 



id. Cat. Sn. iii, p. 299 (1896). 



Head short, snout declivous and rather pointed ; body mode- 

 rately elongate. Eye as long as its distance from the mouth. 

 Eostral as deep as broad ; frontal longer than broad, nearly as 

 long as its distance from the end of the snout ; one prse- and one 

 postocular ; 5 upper labials, tliird and fourth entering the eye ; a 

 single large anterior temporal, descending to the labial margin ; 

 one or two pairs of chin-shields. 15 or 17 scales round neck, 19 

 or 21 round body ; scales broader than long, slightly imbricate, 

 strongly keeled. Veiitrals feebly enlarged, more or less distinctly 

 bituberculate, 224-238. Olive above, yellowish beneath, with 

 black cross-bands, which form complete rings in young and half- 

 grown specimens ; a black spot may be present between each pair 

 of annuli. 



Total length 910 millim. ; tail 100. 



