DISTIKA. 413 



female with a feeble tubercle or keel, of adult male with a strong 

 spiuose tubercle. Ventrals distinct throughout, 320-387. Youag 

 greyish olive above, white beneath, with complete black rings which 

 are broadest on the back ; head black, with an angular yellow 

 (vermilion) band above, the apex on the snout ; tail black, with 

 whitish vertical bands at the base. In the adult the bands become 

 more obsolete and are not continued across the body, and the head 

 is uniform olive-brown. 



Total length 3 feet. 



Hub. Coasts of Baluchistan, India, and Ceylon. 



1 regard H. lapemoides as the young, H. stewartii as the adult 

 female, and H. Jioldsworthii as the fully developed male of one and 

 the same species. 



513. Distira viperina. 



Thalassupliis viperiua, Schmidt, Abh. Naturw. Hamb. ii, 2e Abth. 



1852, p. 79, pi iii. 



Disteira prsescutata, Dum. $ Bibr. Erp. Gen. vii, p. 1331*. 

 Hydrophis doliata, Fischer, Abh. Naturw. Hamb. iii, 1856, p. 5(3. 

 ? Hydrophis obscurus (non Daitd.), Jan, Rev. et May. Zool. 1859, 



pi 151 ; id. Icon. Ophid. 40, pi. vi, tig. 2. 

 Hydrophis viperina, Giinth. Kept. B. I. p. 378 ; Anders. P. Z. S. 1872, 



p. 400. 



Hydrophis jayakari, Bouleny. A. M. N. H. (5) xx, 1887, p. 408. 

 Hydrophis plunibea, Murray, Journ. Bomb. N. H. Soc. ii, 1887, p. 34. 



Head rather small ; body moderately elongate, rather slender 

 anteriorly. Rostral as deep as broad ; nasals as long as or a little 

 shorter than the frontal; suture between the praefrontals very 

 short; frontal as broad as long, as long as its distance from the 

 rostral or end of the snout, shorter than the parietals ; one or two 

 prse- and one or two postoculars ; 7 or 8 upper labials, second largest, 

 fourth or third and fourth entering the eye ; one or two anterior 

 temporals ; two pairs of chin- shields, in contact with each other, 

 posterior longer. 27 to 29 scales round the neck, 37 to 43 round 

 the middle of the body ; scales juxtaposed, obtusely keeled. Yen- 

 trals large anteriorly, bituberculate in the male, 237-267. Slaty 

 grey above, with rhomboidal transverse black spots, white or pink 

 on the sides and beneath ; some specimeus uniform dark grey 

 above ; in the young, the black spots are continued down the sides 

 of the body ; end of tail black. 



Total length 3 feet. 



Hob. From the Persian Gulf and the Makraii coast, round the 

 coasts of India and Burma to Java, Hong Kong, and Hainan. 



* I have examined the type specimen in the Paris Museum. 



