SNAKES OF CEYLON. 373 



Costals : Longer than broad and feebly imbricate anteriorly, 

 about as broad as long, hexagonal, feebly imbricate or juxta- 

 posed on the compressed posterior part ; with a small, round, 

 slightly eccentric tubercle placed post-centrally. In 33 to 41 

 rows two heads-lengths behind the head ; 38 to 45 in midbody ; 

 and 33 to 42 two heads-lengths before the vent. Ventrals : 

 218 to 290 ; entire, or a few divided posteriorly ; nearly twice 

 the breadth of the last costal rows. Anal : Variable. 



(b) Anomalies. — Nasals : The suture from the nostril rarely 

 passes to the 1st supralabial. Prefrontals : It is not very 

 unusual for these not to meet the 2nd supralabial on one side, 

 but this deviation is decidedly rare bilaterally. A detached 

 fragment rarely forms a pseudo-loreal. Postoculars : The 

 upper part of the 5th or 6th supralabials may be considered 

 a third postocular by some authors. Supralabials : The 3rd, 

 4th, and 5th rarely touch the eye. Cuneate : One is rarely 

 interpolated between the 3rd and 4th infralabials. 



Dentition. — Detailed under the genus. 



Distribution. — (a) General : Coasts from the Persian Gulf 

 to the Malay Peninsula. (New Guinea and Australia, 

 Boulenger). 



(b) Local : Throughout the range given by me above it is 

 an uncommon species. 



There is one from Muscat in the British Museum, and I 

 have seen another from the Persian Gulf caught at Jask. It 

 is not mentioned by Murray from the Sind Coast. A specimen 

 in the Bombay Natural History Society's collection is from 

 Karwar. Ferguson mentions two in the Trivandrum Museum 

 from Travancore, and presented another to the British Museum 

 from that coast. Another from the Travancore Coast is 

 preserved in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. I found four good 

 specimens in the Colombo Museum from the Ceylon coasts. 

 I acquired one from Madras out of 192 seasnakes in 1917, and 

 the British Museum has one from the same locality. Further 

 north it does not appear to have been captured. I failed to 

 get one from the Burmese Coasts, but there is one in the 

 Indian Museum from Sandaway. The type of Annandale's 



