DISTIRA. 411 



510. Distira bituberculata. 



Hydrophis bituberculatus, Peters, MB. Al: Berl. 1872, p. 855, 

 pi. ii, fig. 2. 



Very closely allied to D. lapemidoides, but scales imbricate, with 

 the keels mostly broken up into two tubercles ; 26 or 27 scales 

 round the neck, 48 or 49 round the deepest part of the body. 

 Ventrals distinct, 278. Dark brown above, yellowish on the sides 

 and beneath, the skin between the scales black. 



Total length 3 feet 8 inches. 



Hob. Colombo ; a single specimen in the Berlin Museum. 



511. Distira ornata. 



Aturia ornata, Gray, Zool. Misc. p. 61, and Cat. Sn. p. 45. 

 Hydrophis ocellata,'<7/-a/, Cat. Sn. p. 53 ; Giinth. Rept.B. I. p. 378, 



pi. xxv, fig. P. 



Chitulia inornata, Gray, Cut. Sn. p. 50. 

 Thalassophis schlegelii, Schmidt, Abh. Naturw. Hamb. ii, 2e Abth. 



1852, p. 83, pi. v. 



Hydrophis striatus, part., Dttm. $ Bibr. Erp. Gen. vii, p. 1347. 

 Hydrophis schlegelii, Fischer, Abh. Natunv. Hamb. iii, 1856, p. 50 ; 



Jan, Icon. Ophid. 40, pi. vi, fig. 1. 



Hydrophis lajvis, Liitk. Tidensk. Meddel 1862, p. 309, pi. i, fig. 6. 

 Hydrophis ornata, Giinth. Sept. B. I. p. 376, pi. xxv/fig. V ; Boettg. 



Zool. Anz. 1888, p. 397. 



Hydrophis ellioti, Giinth. I c. p. 377, pi. xxv, fig. N. 

 Hydrophis striatus, Jan, Icon. Ophid. 40, pi. v, fig. 1. 



Head moderate; body moderately elongate. Eostral broader 

 than deep ; nasals shorter than the frontal, two or three times as 

 long as the suture between the praefrontals ; frontal longer than 

 broad, as long as its distance from the end of the snout or a little 

 longer, shorter than the parietals ; one prae- and two or three 

 postoculars ; 7 or 8 upper labials, second largest, third and fourth 

 entering the eye ; two or three superposed anterior temporals ; an- 

 terior chin-shields in contact, posterior chin-shields, if distinct, 

 separated by two or three scales. 35 to 42 scales round the neck, 

 40 to 50 round the middle of the body ; scales juxtaposed and 

 hexagonal in the middle of the body, feebly imbricate anteriorly, 

 smooth in the young, with a central tubercle or short keel in the 

 adult. Ventrals distinct, but feebly enlarged, 252-300. Young 

 with blackish cross bands, tapering on the sides, and with one or 

 more lateral series of roundish dark spots ; these bands may become 

 confluent in some specimens, which are uniform blackish olive 

 above and white beneath. 

 Total length 4 feet. 



Hob. From the Persian Gulf and the coasts of India and Ceylon 

 to New Guinea and North Australia. 



HYDROPHIS CRASSICOLLIS, Anders. J. A. S. B. xl, 1871, p. 19, 

 and Fayrer, Thanatoph. pi. xxii, which is known to me from the 



