HYDROPHIS CORONATA. 
“Head very small, twice as long as broad; neck very slender, its 
length being more than one-third of total. Rostral shield small, broader 
than long ; one post-ocular ; the third upper labial is not in contact with 
the nasal. Two pairs of chin-shields, which are in contact with each 
other. Nineteen to twenty-three series of scales round the neck. 
Scales imbricate, those on the highest part of the body higher than long, 
those on the sides with a small tubercle, those on the back with a keel. 
Ventral. shields very distinct, nearly twice as large as the scales of the 
adjoining series, 321-337 in number, each with two small tubercles. 
Four anal shields, the outer of which are rather larger than the others. 
Trunk with from fifty-three to fifty-nine complete blackish rings, which 
are broader than the interspaces of the yellowish-olive ground-colour. 
Head and ventral side of the thin neck-like portion of the body black ; 
the former with a yellow horseshoe-shaped mark across the frontals and 
nasals, and extending backwards over the superciliary edge to the temple. 
Tail with ten or eleven blackish cross-bars,” 
