PELAMYS BICOLOR. 185 



now and then spoken of in the periodical literature. Comparatively 

 small and inoffensive, though likewise possessed with poisonous fangs, 

 it might however bite with more severity, having a larger mouth and 

 stronger jaws. In its external aspect, it is more eel-like than the 

 species of Phi.turus, which, were it not for their compressed tail, would 

 otherwise bear the physiognomy of the terrestrial tribe of Elapsidae. 



PELAMYS BICOLOR, Daud. 



SPEC. CHAR. Body very much compressed; tail very thin, and obtuse 

 posteriorly. Above uniform black ; beneath uniform yellow or white. 

 Black patches upon the tail. 



SYX. Anyuis platuros, GM. Linn. Syst. Nat. Ed. xiii, III, i, 1788, 1122. 



Hy.lrus bicolor, SCHN. Hist. Ampb, I, 1799, 242. SHAW, Gen. Zool. Ill, 1802, PI. 

 cxxv & cxxvi. 



Ili/drophis platnra, LATH. Hist. nat. Kept. IV, 1801, 197. 



I'.lamys bicolor (Pelamide bicolore), DAUD. Hist. nat. Kept. VII, 1802,366, PL 

 LXXXIX Ccv. Kegn. Anim. Illustr. 1846, 134, PL xxxvi bis, fig. 1. GRAY, Catal. 

 Snakes Brit. Mas. 1849, 41. BUM. & BIBR. Erpet. gen. VII, n, 1854, 1335. 



Ilydrophis pelamys, SCHL. Phys. Serp. II, 1837, 508, PL xvni, figs. 13, 14, & 15. 



Hydrus, CANTOR, Catal. of Snakes Malay. Penins. 1847, 135. 



Tliulatfnphis scMeijelii, SCHMIDT, Abhandl. Naturw. Ver. Hamb. II, 1852, Tab. V. 



Xnlla WaMagillee pam, RUSSELL, Ind. Serp. I, 1796, PL XLI. 



Schiddil, ibid. II, 1796, PL xn. 



DESCR. The head is very much depressed, anteriorly narrow, and 

 considerably swollen at the occipital region. The gape of the mouth 

 i* very deep, ascending obliquely upwards posteriorly. The occipital 

 plates are the largest of the cephalic series; they are much longer than 

 broad, and more or less polygonal. The vertex plate is subhexagonal, 

 obtuse-angled anteriorly, with the sides nearly parallel, until it termi- 

 nates into an acute triangle. The supraoculars are well-developed, 

 nearly as broad as the vertex plate, but not quite as long. The post- 

 frontals are irregularly quadrangular, and smaller than the prefrontals, 

 which are elongated, tapering anteriorly bearing the nostrils upon the 

 middle of their posterior portion ; the nasals are, therefore, absent, 

 and the nostrils, by this arrangement, belong entirely to the upper 

 surface of the head. The rostral is pentagonal and depressed. The 

 fir.st and second upper labials extend over the space which elsewhere 

 is occupied by the nasal and loral plates. There is one anteorbital, 



47 



