QUEENSLAND AND PAPUAN h'EPTILES.— LONGMAN. 41 



LATICAUDA COLUBRINUS (Scluuid). 



Ill his diagnosis of four species of Platuiiis in the British Museum Cata- 

 logue of Snakes, Boulenger seetioiied theni according to the presence or absence 

 of a keel on the posterior ventrals. This characteristic does not appear to be 

 of quite unexceptional value, and tlie matter has a direct relation to the status 

 of riatin-Ks frontalis, Be Vis/ Captain P. Wall states '' that iie has found a 

 median ventral keel "in at least three specimens of what I consider undoubted 

 P. laiicaudatus," and he thinks that muelleri should be included with this species. 

 Stejncger" somewhat ambiguously refers to L. muelleri as "a L. laiicaudatus 

 with a ventral keel." Out of fourteen specimens of coluhrimts in the Queensland 

 Museum, one has a distinct keel and another has a trace. The type of " Platurus 

 frontalis'' agrees in detail with L. coluhrimts, but a median ventral keel is present 

 on the po.'iterior ventrals. In view of the variability noted, there are insufficient 

 grounds for separating frontalis from colubrinus. Barbour" prefers to consider 

 L. colubrinus itself as a subspecies of laticaudata. As pointed out by Ogilby," 

 the generic term Laticauda has better claims than Platurus for these snakes. 



HYDRELAPS DARWINIENSIS, Boulenger. 



Whilst examining specimens of juvenile Laticauda colubrinus in the 

 Queensland Museum collections, a solitary example of the apparently rare sea 

 snake Hydrelaps darwiniensis was found by the writer. The superficial 

 resemblance between the two accounts for their being mixed in the old collection. 

 Our specimen agrees well with Boulenger 's description,^^ but tlie tail is I'clatively 

 longer. The scale formula is as follows : — Body rows 27 ; ventrals 168 ; anal 2 ; 

 subeaudals 36 (single). Total length 380 mm.; tail 48. Unfortunately no 

 locality is available. Lonnberg and Andersson have recorded a specimen from 

 Broome. 



LAPEMIS HARDWICKII, (iiay. 



The Queensland Museum has a specimen of this short sea snake, which 

 was captured at Townsville. The ventral surface was roughly opened up for 

 purpose of preservation, and it is thus impossible to give a complete scale data. 

 This is the first example to be noted in our register, but Werner has recorded 

 it from Shark's Bay, Western Au.stralia.'^ We have followed Stejneger in 

 using Lapcmis in preference to Enhydris. 



' De Vis, Annals Qld. Wuseuni, vi, 1905, p. 48. 

 . 8 Wall, P.Z.S. 1903, p. 96. 



» Stejneger, Herp. of Jap., Bull. 58, U.S. Nat. Mur.. 1907, p. 402. 

 '" Birbour, Mem. Mu<i. Comp. Zoolog. Harv., x'.iv, 1912, p. 131. 

 " Ogilby, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., xxiii, 1898, p. 363. 

 '' Boulenger, British Museum Catalogue, iii. p. 270, pi. xii, fig. 1. 

 " Werner, Fauni Sudwest-Aus., ii, p. 263, 1909. 



