556 . COLLLliRINK 



flat tails, produced in the Indian sea. They are 

 also mentioned by Arrian in the Periplus Marts 

 Erythrcei, &c. &c. Aristotle observes, that ser- 

 pents are either of land or fresh water, or else of 

 the sea, and that these latter have a resemblance in 

 most particulars to Land- Snakes, but have a head 

 like a Conger. It is probable, however, that some 

 of the M uraena? Avere confounded by the ancients, 

 as they are even by some of the moderns, with the 

 real or proper Sea-Snakes. 



COLUBRINE HYDRUS. 



Hydrus Colubrinus. H. plumbeus c'mgulis nigris. 

 Lead-coloured Hydrus, with black surrounding bands. 

 Hydrus colubrinus. Schneid. Amph. 1. p. 238. 

 Coluber laticaudatus. Lin. Syst. Nat. p. 383. Mus. Ad. Trid. 

 p.31.t. l6.f. 1. 



THIS species, which is much more nearly allied 

 to the genus Coluber than any of the rest, is a 

 native of the Indian and American seas, and is 

 frequently seen towards the coasts of the south- 

 ern islands in the Pacific. Its general length is 

 about two feet and a half, but it probably grows 

 to a much larger size : the head is covered with 

 large scales: the body is cylinclric, the tail ter- 

 minating in a flattened and moderately dilated 

 tip : along the whole length of the under parts is 

 a series of scuta and of subcauclal scales, as in the 

 genus Coluber, except that they arc somewhat 

 less distinctly continued under the compressed 

 part of the tail : the colour of the whole animal is 



