270: | COLUBRID. 
distance from the mouth. Rostral nearly twice as broad as deep ; 
nasals as long as the prefrontals; supraocular raised, its free 
border pointed; one pre- and three postoculars; six or seven 
upper labials, third and fourth entering the eye; two pairs of 
small chin-shields, in contact with each other. 22 to 24 scales 
round the neck, 25 to 30 round the body; scales with a short keel, 
which is strong and tubercular in the males. Greyish or pale olive 
above, whitish beneath, with dark cross-bands, narrower than the 
interspaces between them, tapering to a point on the sides of the 
belly ; belly uniform or with a series of dark cross-bars alternating 
with spots. 
Total length 890 millim.; tail 115, 
Western Tropical Pacific. 
a. od. Hong Kong. Dr. J. G. Fischer, 
b. 2. —? Dr. Giinther [P.]. 
207. HYDRELAPS. 
Maxillary longer than the lower aspect of the ectopterygoid, not 
extending forwards as far asthe palatine; poison-fangs moderate, 
followed, after an interspace, by 6 solid teeth. Snout short; 
nostrils superior, in a single nasal which is in contact with its 
fellow ; head-shields large; no loreal or preocular, the prefrontal 
bordering the eye. Body moderately elongate, feebly compressed ; 
scales imbricate ; ventrals small but well-developed. 
North Coast of Australia, 
1, Hydrelaps darwiniensis. (Prare XII. fig. 1.) 
Eye extremely small, about half as long as its distance from the 
mouth. Rostral broader than deep, scarcely visible from above ; 
frontal longer than broad, nearly as long as its distance from the 
end of the snout, as long as or a little shorter than the parietals, its 
lateral sides diverging posteriorly; a single postocular ; temporals 
1+2, anterior very large and descending between the fifth and 
sixth labials; six upper labials, third and fourth entering the eye ; 
two pairs of small chin-shields, in contact with each other, the 
anterior shorter than the posterior. Scales perfectly smooth, 
imbricate, in 27 to 29 rows on the neck as well as on the body, 
Ventrals 170-172. Annulate blackish and yellowish white, the 
black rings broader than the white above, narrower beneath; head 
dark olive, spotted with black. 
Total length 435 millim.; tail 43. 
North Australia, 
a-b. 2 (V.170,172). Port Darwin. _R. G. 8, Buckland, Esq. [P.]. 
