SHA SNAKES. 
Pelamis bicolor. 
Giinther’s description is as follows :—‘‘ Head flat, with very long, 
spatulate snout ; neck rather stout ; body of moderate length. Nasal 
shields contiguous, longer than broad, pierced by the nostril posteriorly ; 
only one pair of frontals. Scales not imbricate, not polished, tubercular 
or concave. Ventral shields none, or very narrow. Lower jaw without 
notch in front **. Two or three post-orbitals. Neck surrounded by 
from forty-five to fifty-one longitudinal series of scales. From 378 to 
440 scales in a lateral longitudinal series between the angle of the mouth 
and the vent. Coloration variable.” 
Varieties :—“‘a. Colour, black above; sides and belly uniform 
brownish olive ; tail with black spots. 
“8. Back black ; belly and sides brown ; separated by a black and 
yellow band. Large spots posteriorly. 
“+, Black of back narrow, becomes sinuous behind middle of the 
body ; posteriorly a dorsal series of rhombic confluent spots. Sides 
and belly with an irregular series of rounded black or brown spots. 
“6. Yellow, with about fifty brown, black-edged cross-bands, 
extending nearly to the belly, which is crossed by narrow vertical 
brownish-black streaks, alternating with the dorsal bands. Some of the 
dorsal bands are confluent, forming a zigzag band. Head yellow, varie- 
gated with black.” 
This is the only species of the genus Pelamis. It has a wide 
distribution—wider indeed than that of any other known salt-water 
snake. It abounds in the Bay of Bengal, and in “all the Eastern seas.” 
A specimen sent by Mr. Stewart, of Pooree, to Sir Joseph Fayrer, 1s 
“twelve and a half inches long, and is uniform black above, the sides 
and the belly being of a bright gamboge yellow, tail with black spots, 
separated by a well-defined iine. It is described as being very 
poisonous, and killed a fowl rapidly.” 
