10 Journal of the F.M.S. Museums. [Vol. X, 



28 to 33, usually 29 to 31, scales round the neck. 



37 to 43, usually 39 to 43, round the body. 



Ventrals, 321 to 389. 



The frontal shield is as long as its distance to the 

 rostral in 11 examples, longer than in 12, in 9 of these 

 being as long as its distance to the end of the snout. The 

 posterior chin shields are in contact with each other in 12 

 examples, partly separated in 11. 



Colour. — All the young ones taken from the mother 

 referred to below, belong to Boulenger's Var. A of the 

 Catalogue. They are light olivaceous yellow, with from 

 65 to 80 blackish annuli, broadest on the back and joined 

 together by a strong black stripe running along the beUy. 

 Head black, with or without a curved yellow band across 

 the snout behind the nostril, and continued back along the 

 sides of the head. Posterior half of tail, black. 



A comparison of these juveniles with the other more 

 grown individuals in the series, shows that the ventral part 

 of the stripe and ventral band gradually disappear with 

 age. In some of the younger specimens, one-quarter 

 and one-third grown, these markings can still be traced, 

 but in the adults they are entirely lost. • All of these are 

 best placed under C and D, but between the two no dividing 

 line can be drawn. From the handsome individuals with 

 bold, black or blue-black dorsal bars, to those in which 

 the bars are so obscurely marked as to be hardly 

 recognizable, every gradation can be seen. Head olivaceous 

 or yellowish, sometimes mottled with blackish. 



The adult form with complete jet black annuli and 

 ventral stripe which is to be found along the Coasts of 

 India, and which appears to turn up again in the seas 

 around Formosa I have never seen in this region. 



Dentition. — Posterior maxillary, 6 or 7 ; palatine, 7 or 

 8 ; pterygoid, 15 to 19 ; mandibular, 15 or 16, (7 specimens 

 examined) . 



Breeding. — One pregnant female with 10 fully deve- 

 loped 5'oung was caught in May off the Coast of Perak. 



Mother. — Total length 1690 mm. ; 31 scales round the 

 neck, 42 round the body, ventrals 337. 



Youn^.— Total length, 360 to 380 mm. ; 29 to 31 scales 

 round the neck, 39 to 41 round the body. The ventrals 

 could not be counted satisfactorily. 



Two other gravid females with their embryos still in 

 an early stage of development were obtained in January 

 and May in the Gulf of Siam. Their broods were 5 and 11 

 respectively. 



kiiiifcjHydrophis melanosoma Giinther. 



Hijdrophis melanosoma, Giinther, Rept. Brit. Ind., p. 367, pi. 

 XXV (1864). 



Distira melanosoma, Blgr., Cat. Sn. B. M., Ill, p. 291 (1896). 



Distira wravi, Blgr., Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist,, (7) V, p 307, 

 (1900). 



