215 



ventrals 181 199, last often divided; anal divided; sub- 

 caudals 98 120. 



Red or orange above, with pairs of black transverse bands, 

 bordering a narrow white band; head olive-brown with one 

 to three red transverse bands ; on each side of the head a 

 black line; lips yellow. Lower surface olive-green, sides of 

 ventrals yellow, lateral keels dark. Length of head and body 

 510 mm.; tail 190 mm.; reaches a total length of 739 mm. 



Habitat: Nias; Pulu Nako!; Sumatra (Labuan, Medan!, 

 Serdang!, Langkat, Laut Tador, Bedagei, Indragiri, Muara 

 Rupit in Palembang, Taluk!, Kaju tanam); Banka!; Natuna 

 Islands; Borneo (Kuching, Sarawak, Samarinda!); Java!. 

 Malay Peninsula; Singapore; Penang; Burma; Bengal. 



Subfamily Hydrophiinae. 

 Key to the Indo-Australian genera. 



A. Ventral shields large. 



I. Nostrils lateral; nasals separated 51. Platurus p. 216. 



IT. Nostrils superior; nasals in contact 52. Aipysurus p. 218. 



B. Ventral shields, if distinct, very small. 



I. A deep groove in the chin, partly concealing the 



narrow mental shield 53. Enhydrina p. 220. 



II. No mental groove; mental shield triangular. 

 a. Internasals separating the nasals; scales jux- 

 taposed 54. Thalassophis p. 222. 



b. Nasals in contact. 



1. Ventral shields absent; scales juxtaposed. 55. Hydrus p. 224. 



2. Ventral shields distinct, or in the anterior 

 part of the body only ; scales imbricate in 



the anterior part of the body 56. Hydrophis p. 225. 



3. Ventral shields distinct, at least in the 

 anterior part of the body; scales all juxta- 

 posed, the lower three or four rows enlarged. 57. Enhydris p. 240. 



Poisonous marine snakes (except a Hydrophis species, which 

 occurs in a freshwater lake in Luzon), never leaving the water, 

 with the exception of Platurus and perhaps Aipysurus; vivi- 

 parous. Feeding on fish and crustaceans. 



Tail strongly compressed; rostral with two notches, only 

 the two ends of the tongue protrusible; maxillary teeth grooved 1 ). 



Nom. indig. Ular laut. 



i) WALL, Mem. Asiat. Soc. Bengal II N. 8, 1909. 



