382 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



Cranial Osteological Characters. — Unknown. I have no 

 skull. 



Dentition. — Maxillary : Postnodal, 1 to 2.* Palatine and 

 Pterygoid : Not known. Mandibular : 14. 



There is one species, viz., nigrocinctus, which deserves to 

 rank in a genus apart from other hydrophids on the very few 

 postnodal maxillary teeth. 



Melanomystax nigrocinctus (Daudin). 



(Latin " niger " black, " cinctus " girdle.) 

 Daudin' s Seasnake. 



Bengali : " kerril patte " (Russell). 



Synonymy. — Enhydris nigrocinctus, Distira lapemidoides, 

 D. cyanocinctus, D. hendersoni, Hydrus nigrocinctus. 



History. — Described first by Russell in 1801, a fair coloured 

 representation being shown in Plate VI. of his second volume. 

 Christened by Daudin in 1803. Russell's type is preserved 

 in the British Museum. 



General Characters. — A snake of fair proportions growing 

 to 3J feet. Head moderate, rather broad ; moderately 

 depressed. Snout of moderate length, declivous, hardly 

 projecting, rather broadly rounded terminally. Eye small. 

 Commissure of mouth turned up behind. Neck not apparent. 

 Body cylindrical and of fair girth anteriorly ; much com- 

 pressed and heavy posteriorly, the extreme depth being about 

 three or rather less than three times that in the anterior part. 



Identification.— It is one of the few seasnakes in which the 

 prefrontal does not touch the 2nd supralabial. This taken 

 with 27 to 32 scale rows two heads-lengths behind the head, 

 36 to 43 imbricate in midbody, and from 311 to 339 ventrals 

 will establish the identity. A distinctive feature in colour- 

 ation is the curved black moustache. 



Colouration. — Olivaceous green dorsally, merging to a clear 

 yellow, often very bright, ventrally. The body is surrounded 

 with from 42 to 62 well-defined black or deep greenish black 



* I have examined these in three specimens* 



