374 



SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



andamanica was from the Andamans. It has been recorded 

 from Siam, and the Skeat Expedition obtained specimens from 

 the Patani Coast of the Malay Peninsula.* 



Genus POLYODONTOGNATHU8 Gen. nov. 

 (Greek " poly " many, " odous " tooth, " gnathos ? " jaw.) 



General Characters. — Length small. Body moderately 

 attenuated anteriorly, the diameter about half to one-third 

 the extreme depth posteriorly. 



* A very closely allied form, described by Peters under the name 

 godeffroyi is known from seas to the east of Malaya, i.e., the Chinese 

 sea, the neighbourhood of the Philippines, and the Loo Choo Islands. 

 Both Boulenger and Stejneger recognized the form as a specific entity. 

 I, on the other hand, cannot dissociate this form from Gray's ornata. 

 So far as this work is concerned the point is of no material importance, 

 for my conception of ornata as herein presented is confined entirely to 

 sixteen specimens from seas between the Persian Gulf and Siam, which 

 I recognize as ornata. I have eliminated three specimens recognized 

 as ornata by Boulenger, viz., the type from the Indian Ocean, and 

 the type and another of inornata (Gray), also labelled " Indian Ocean." 

 as they maj^ not have been collected from Indian Coasts. 



As a matter of interest, however, I contrast some points of major 

 importance affecting the Indian series of sixteen ornata with sixteen 

 others from Eastern seas that have claim to be considered godeffroyi. 

 Two of these in the British Museum are labelled godeffroyi by Boulenger, 

 four others are referred to by Stejneger as godeffroyi (Herp. Japan, 

 1907, p. 434) from the Loo Choos, and nine others examined by me 

 in Mr. Owston's Loo Choo Islands collections and referred by me to 

 ornata, as well as one in the Royal College of Surgeons' Museum 

 (No. 517) from Manilla. 



Indian ornata. 



(1) Costal rows two heads -lengths 



behind head : 33 to 41. 



(2) Costals midbody : 38 to 46. 



(3) Ventrals : 218 to 290. 



(4) Dorsal bars : 35 to 41. 



Loo Choo and Philippine 



godeffroyi. 



(1) Costal rows neck : 30 to 36. 



(2) Costals body : 33 to 43. 



(3) Ventrals : 227 to 271. 



(4) Dorsal bars : 30 to 49. 



The lepidosis of the head is admitted by both contending parties to 

 be subject to variation. I cannot find any characters, with even fair 

 constancy, that will permit of a distinction between the Indian ornata 

 and the Far Eastern godeffroyi. The differences (?) in the lepidosis 

 of the body of the two forms as shown above is very unconvincing. I 

 think that in both areas of distribution the accumulation of a larger 

 material will steadily reduce the slight differences now apparent. 



