276 COLUBRID. 
round the neck, 48 to 50 round the body; ‘scales rhomboidal, 
imbricate, with a strong short keel. Ventrals distinct throughout, 
285-309. Grey above, with black cross-bands, broadest on the 
back, which form complete rings or are interrupted on the belly ; 
head uniform black. 
Total length 665 millim. ; tail 75. 
Bombay Coast, Bay of Bengal, Straits of Malacca. 
a. 3 (V. 294). Bombay. Dr. Leith [P.]. 
b. go (V. 298). Vizagapatam. mc: i mee [P.].. 
e. 
ec. 9 (V. 285). . Bengal. Gen, Hardwicke [P.].. 
d. 9 (Y. 204) Bengal. 
e. d (V. 293). Pinang. Dr. Cantor. 
SF, g-h. 2 (V. 309, 285) — Zoological Society. 
& hgr. (V. 300). ; 
7. Hydrophis frontalis. 
Hydrophis frontalis, Jan, Elenco, p. 110 (1863), and Icon. Gén. 89, 
pl. v. fig. 2 (1872). 
Head very small; anterior part of body very slender, its diameter 
one third the depth of the posterior part. Rostral broader than. 
deep ; frontal longer than broad, as long as its distance from the 
end of the snout, a little shorter than the parietals, its point separat- 
ing the prefrontals ; one pree- and one postocular; two superposed. 
anterior temporals ; seven upper labials, third and fourth entering 
the eye; chin-shields very small, posterior separated by scales.. 
34 scales round the neck, 42 round the body; scales rhomboidal, 
imbricate, with a strong short keel. Ventrals 291. Whitish, with 
olive-grey cross-bars, broad on the back, tapering towards the 
belly ; head blackish, with a yellow streak above and behind the 
eye. 
Total length 560 millim. ; tail 70. 
Indian Ocean. 
a. 3 (V. 291), —-? ; Zoological Society.. 
8. Hydrophis kingii. 
Disteira doliata (non Lacép.), Gray in King, Narr. Surv, Austral. iic 
p. 482 (1827), 
Hydrophis doliata, part., Gray, Cat. p. 51 (1849). 
—— elegans, part., Giinth. Rept. Brit. Ind. p. 369 (1864). 
Head small; anterior portion of body slender, its diameter one 
third the depth of the posterior part. Rostral as deep as broad ; 
nasals shorter than the frontal, thrice as long as the suture between 
the prefrontals; frontal nearly twice as long as broad, as long as 
its dictance from the end of the snout, as long as the parietals; one 
pre- and two postoculars ; seven upper labials, second largest and 
in contact with the prefrontal, third and fourth entering the eye, 
fifth separated from the eye by a subocular; posterior chin-shields 
separated by a large scale. 27 scales round the neck, 37 round the 
