SNAKES OF CEYLON. 361 



Museum from Mergui. There is one in the British Museum 

 from Penang collected by Cantor. 



Lioselasma cyanocincta (Daudin). 



(Greek " kuanos " dark blue, and Latin " cinctus " a girdle.) 



The Chittul. 



(?) Bengali : " chittul " (Russell). 



Synonymy. — Hydrophis tuberculoid, H. day anus, H. sub- 

 annulata, H. aspera, H. crassicollis, H. trachyceps, H. phipsoni, 

 H. westermanni, H. doliata, H. frontalis, H. sublxvis, H. 

 taprobanica, Hydrus, straitus, H. cyanocinctus, Enhydris 

 striatus, E. cyanocinctus, Leioselasma striata, D. tuberculata, 

 D. lapemidoides, D. mamillaris, Ghitulia fasciata. 



History. — Figured by Russell in Plate IX. of his second 

 volume (1801), and a specimen in the British Museum col- 

 lected by him is, I believe, the type. Christened by Daudin 

 in 1803. 



General Characters. — A fine species attaining to 6 or 7 

 feet. Head moderately broad, slightly depressed. Snout 

 rather long, slightly projecting, broadly rounded terminally. 

 Eye small. Commissure of mouth turned up behind. Neck 

 not or hardly apparent. Body cylindrical and of moderate 

 girth in the anterior two -fifths ; robust and compressed in 

 the posterior three-fifths ; the extreme depth being three times 

 or less than three times the depth of the anterior part of the 

 body. 



Identification. — Attention must be directed to many 

 features. The costals are in 27 to 36 rows two heads-lengths 

 behind the head ; 38 to 49 at the greatest girth, with bidentate 

 keels. The ventrals 296 to 398. Most specimens will be 

 known by the 3rd, 4th, and 5th supralabials touching the 

 eye ; but this character is not constant. Again, there is 

 usually a complete series of cuneate scales behind the 2nd 

 infralabial. 



Colouration. — In young the head is black, with a more or 

 less distinct yellow horseshoe mark on the crown ; but with 

 advancing age the black fades, and ultimately the head 

 becomes pale olivaceous. The body is olivaceous dorsally, 



