1871.] DR. J. ANDERSON ON INDIAN REl'TILES. 179 



agonal ; superciliaries rather small ; occipitals narrow and long and 

 rounded posteriorly. Loreal nearly square, in contact with first, 

 second, and third upper labials. One praeocular, widely separated from 

 the vertical, resting on the third labial ; two postoculars, the lower 

 one long, resting on the third and fourth labials. One single much 

 elongated temporal in contact with the postoculars, succeeded by a 

 large scale-like shield. Five upper labials, all excluded from the 

 orbit by the oculars ; eight lower labials, the front pair forming a 

 suture behind the mental. Two pairs of chin-shields in contact with 

 each other, the anterior pair in contact with four labials ; nineteen 

 rows of smooth, moderately elongated scales. Ventrals narrow, 20"S ; 

 anal bifid ; subcaudals two-rowed, fifty-six. General colour dull 

 yellow ; tip of snout bluish black ; a broad black band between the 

 eyes involving the oculars, vertical, and occipitals, and a black band 

 from behind the angle of the mouth across the occiput, involving one 

 temporal ; all the rest of the head of the same yellow colour as the 

 body generally ; forty-nine large bluish-black spots or bars on the 

 back, contracting to a point on the sides and only passing halfway 

 down them, sometimes confluent on the back ; twelve black rings 

 encircling the tail and occasionally confluent above and below. Teeth 

 four in each jaw, the posterior one the largest, enclosed in a distinct 

 pouch and indistinctly grooved. « 



Hah. Amherst, near the mouth of Moulmein river. 



As remarked by Dr. Stoliczka, this species has a very marked 

 resemblance in coloration to Hinistes hydrinus ; and, as is well known, 

 both of these Snakes, as also others of the Homalopsidse, appear to 

 mimic the true Hydrophiidse. 



I think there can be no doubt that Cope's recognition of Peters's 

 Hydrodipsas as Cantoria is correct. 



Cerberus rhynchops, Schneid. ; Gthr. I.e. p. 279. 



This is not an uncommon species in Lower Bengal ; and it appears 

 equally to frequent fresh and salt water ; for I have specimens from 

 localities on the Hoogley ninety miles from the sea, and beyond the 

 influence of the tides, and even as far inland as Burrakur, about 120 

 miles in a straight line from the sea, while there are others in this 

 museum from the coasts of the Andaman Islands and Burmah. It 

 has also been obtained in the Nicobars. Ferania sieboldii seems to 

 have a similar power of accommodating itself to fresh and salt water, 

 and to have even a more extended inland distribution than the present 

 species ; for Carlleyle has more than one specimen from Agra, more 

 than 1000 miles from the sea. 



The shields of the head are subject to considerable variation, and 

 in one specimen from the Hoogley the nasal shields are confluent into 

 one, which forms a broad suture with the rostral ; there are, how- 

 ever, faint indications of the compressed character of this shield. In 

 four specimens from different localities, Akyab, the Hoogley, and Am- 

 herst on the coast of Burmah, there are two infraoculars. The upper 

 labials are also subject to variation depending on the extent of the 

 division that prevails among them. 



