SNAKES OF CEYLON. 353 



Costals : Longer than broad and imbricate on the slender 

 anterior part of the body ; as broad as long, hexagonal and 

 juxtaposed on the compressed posterior part ; with a slightly 

 eccentric tubercle on each scale. In 25 to 29 rows two heads- 

 lengths behind the head; 31 to 40 in midbody ; and 34 to 41 

 two heads-lengths before the vent. Ventrals : 316 to 367 

 (287 Boulenger) ; nearly twice the breadth of the last costal 

 rows in the whole body length. Anal : Variable. 



(b) Anomalies — Cuneate : Sometimes two after the 3rd 

 infra labial ; absent on one side in one example. 



Dentition. — Maxillary : Postnodal, 7 to 10.* Palatine : 5. 

 Pterygoid : 20 to 21. Mandibular : 19 to 20. 



Distribution. — (a) General : Coasts of Peninsular India. 



(b) Local : The subject of Russell's Plate XLIV., the 

 identity of which I hold as dubious, was killed at Vizagapatam. 

 The point, however, is not an important one, as the British 

 Museum possesses another specimen from Vizagapatam pre- 

 sented by Colonel Beddome. Every other specimen known 

 to me was killed in the immediate vicinity of Bombay, It is 

 apparently a rare snake. I have only seen eight examples, 

 including those in the British Museum. The specimen in 

 the Indian Museum, referred to by me in my Monograph 

 (No. 13,392), from the Bay of Bengal, on a more critical exami- 

 nation, I now consider an unusual cyanocincta. 



LlOSELASMA SPIRALIS (Shaw).f 



(Greek " speira " a wreath or coil.) 

 The Narrow Banded Seasnake. 



Tamil : " kadel nagam " (seasnake) about Madras, and 

 kadel pambu " (seasnake) on the Malabar Coast. 



* I have counted these in several specimens. 



f My conception of the species as herein presented is based on a 

 study of well over sixty specimens from Indian Coasts (i.e., Persian 

 Gulf to Tenasserim). I have not incorporated any of the many species 

 of other authors from further East, the validity of which I o- a ve 

 reasons in my Monograph (Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 

 1909) lor doubting. 



