A MONOGRAPH Ob THE SEA-SNAKES (HYDROPHIIN4)). 219 
species. Most of these specimens I have carefully compared side by side with the speci- 
mens labelled cyanocincta in the British Museum, and my opinion is the only possible 
one I see open to me. The forms are as follows: king? (Boulenger), elegans (Gray), 
pacificus (Boulenger), sempert (Garman), tuberculata (Anderson), grandis (Boulenger), 
macfarlant (Boulenger), belcheri (Gray), and frontalis (Jan). 
kingt (Boulenger).—This form rests on the single specimen so named by Mr. 
Boulenger which is in the British Museum. Contrary to his belief the posterior 
maxillary teeth are grooved. The only differences apparent in the descriptions of 
this and cyanocincta in Mr. Boulenger’s catalogue are trifling and affect the proportions 
of the rostral, nasals and frontal, the scales in the body and the relative proportion 
of the head to the body. I think the slender differences claimed in the head shields 
may be dismissed without comment. The scales in the body in king? (37) are only 
two less than the range given by Mr. Boulenger for cyanocincta, and come well within 
the range given me by my large series of specimens (35 to 44). ‘The head in kingi 
recorded as one-third the extreme body depth is within the variation I have observed 
in examples of cyanocincta. 
I see no reason, therefore, to suppose this a species separable from cyanocincta. 
It is to be noted that this specimen was placed by Gray with his doliata, a form 
subsequently united by Mr. Boulenger with c/egans of the same author (Gray), which 
form I am unable also to separate from cyanocincta. 
elegans (Gray).—The three young specimens so named in the British Museum 
and the only ones known, constitute, I think, a very distinct colour variety of cyano- 
cincta, but no more. I have failed, I find, to record the condition of the posterior 
maxillary teeth, possibly owing to the small size of the specimens. A comparison of 
Mr. Boulenger’s descriptions of the two forms shows they are identical except for the 
single anterior temporal, and the slightly shorter frontal shield in elegans. A single 
anterior temporal occurs in at least five of the British Museum specimens of cyano- 
cincta, so this feature cannot be made use of to differentiate this from allied forms. 
A comparison of these three specimens with many cyanocincta made it impossible for 
me to consider them apart. 
Fig. 30.—-Distira pacifica. After Boulenger, Cat., vol. iii, pl. xii, fig. 2. 
pacificus (Boulenger)—Known from a single adult specimen in the British 
Museum from New Britain. I find that the posterior maxillary teeth are grooved, 
and a careful comparison of this with specimens labelled cyanocincta in the same col- 
lection shows no points by which it is possible to separate it from them. The neck- 
scales of pacificus, correctly stated in Mr. Boulenger’s description (Catalogue, page 279), 
are wrongly given in his key (page 272); the correct count, viz., 27 to 29, agrees with 
