558 



GREAT HYDRUS. 



llydrus Major. //. /iridus,fasdi.s dccurrcntibus fustis, squamis 



hexagonis abrupt c car in at is. 

 Livid Ilydrus, with brown decurrent bands, and hexagonal 



abruptly carinatcd scales. 



THIS is a large species, which does not appear 

 to have been yet distinctly described. Its length 

 is more than three feet: its colour pale or livid, 

 marked throughout the whole length of the back 

 by a series of large transverse, senii-d ecurrent 

 dusky bands : the tail banded more deeply, qr so 

 as to shew less of the ground-colour : it is much 

 strictured at the beginning, or place of the vent, 

 and thence very considerably widens towards the 

 tip, which is obtusely pointed : the length of the 

 tail is about four inches, and the scales which 

 cover it are of a somewhat square or lozenge form, 

 and so disposed as to resemble in some degree those 

 of a fish : they are all marked by an abrupt 

 middle carina ; the scales on the body are chiefly 

 hexagonal, and are carinated in the same manner: 

 those on the head large and angular : along the 

 lower part of the abdomen runs a pretty strongly 

 marked carina; the scales being not dilated into 

 any appearance of scuta, but merely marked by a 

 middle line of division on the very edge of the 

 carina : the vent is surrounded by a row of large, 

 strong, lengthened scales ; and in one specimen 

 are two strictures at the commencement of the 

 tail, viz. at the place of the vent, and at about 



