GEBABDIA. 379 



Total length 3 feet ; tail 4-5 inches. 



Hob. Eivers and coasts of Pegu, the Nicobars, the Malay 

 Peninsula and Archipelago, Sumatra, Java, Cochinchina, New 

 Guinea, and the north coast of Australia. At Pinang, Cantor 

 says, it is numerous not only in fresh water and estuaries, but iii 

 the sea at some distance from the shore, where it is sometimes 

 taken in fishing-nets. It is of sluggish, not fierce habits, and 

 feeds upon fishes and crustaceans. 



Genus GERARDIA, 



Gray, Cat. Sn. p. 77, 1849. 



Maxillary teeth 10, followed by two small grooved fangs. Head 

 small, not distinct from neck ; eye small, with vertically subellip- 

 tical pupil ; head-shields large ; nostril in the middle of an undi- 

 vided nasal ; a single internasal, separating the nasals ; loreal 

 present. Body elongate, cylindrical ; scales smooth, in 17 rows, 

 without apical pits ; ventrals well developed, not keeled ; tail 

 moderate ; subcaudals in two rows. 



A single species. 



471. Gerardia prevostiana. 



Coluber (llomalopsis) prevostianus, JEyd. $ Gerv. in Gucr. Ma;/. 



Zool. Cl. iii, 1837, p. 5, pi. xv ; iid. Voy. Favorite, v, Zool. p. 70, 



pi. xxix. 

 Gerarda bicolor, Gray, Cat. Sn. p. 77 ; Gilnth. A. M. N. H. (4) i, 



1868, p. 421; Theob. Cat.y. 180. 

 Campylodon prevostiammi, 2)um. $ Bibr. Erp. Gen. vii, p. 964 ; 



Jan, Icon. Ophid. 30, pi. vi, fig. 3 ; F. Miiller, Verh. nat. Ges. 



Basel, vii, 1885, p. 700. 

 Heleophis flavescens, F. Miiller, t. c. 1884, p. 286, pi. v, fig. 2. 



Frontal a little longer than broad, shorter than its distance from 

 the end of the snout, or than the parietala ; loreal slightly longer 

 than deep, a little smaller than the nasal ; one prse- and two post- 

 oculars ; temporals 1 + 2 ; upper labials 8, fourth entering the eye ; 

 4 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are 

 much larger than the posterior. Scales in 17 rows. Yentrals 146- 

 158 ; anal divided ; subcaudals 31-34. Uniform dark olive above ; 

 three outer rows of scales whitish ; upper lip white, rostral dark 

 oliA'e ; ventrals and subcaudals whitish, with dark edges. 



Total length 16 inches ; tail 2. 



Hob. Pegu *. 



* Theobald adds Ceylon to the habitat of this species, on the authority of 

 Ferguson ; but on referring to the source of his information, viz. Ferguson's 

 ' Eeptile Fauna of Ceylon,' a tract published for private distribution (Colombo, 

 1887), all we find is this : " Gerarda bicolor, Gray. A single specimen from 

 the Asiatic Society Museum, but I question if it be a Ceylon Snake." The fact 



