SNAKES OF CEYLON. 409 



of Burma. It is very common in the Mergui Archipelago, 

 and Cantor reported it incredibly numerous off the coast of 

 the Malay Peninsula. I can find but few records from the 

 Malayan Archipelago, and Stejneger doubts if it occurs on 

 the Japanese Coasts, or further North than perhaps Formosa. 

 It was not represented in any of the Chinese Museums (Hong 

 Kong, Shanghai, and Siccawee) when I visited these insti- 

 tutions in 1901 and 1902, nor in either of the two large 

 collections of seasnakes from Japan and the Loo Choo Islands 

 submitted to me bv Mr. Owston . 



Genus LAPEMIS.* 



General Character. — Length rather short. Habit robust. 



Body moderately attenuated anteriorly, its diameter 



about half to two -thirds the extreme depth poste- 

 riorly. 



Cranial Osteological Characters.— Nasals : Sutured to pre- 

 frontals and frontal ; longer than frontal. Prefrontals : Meet 

 the parietal ; not meeting postfrontals. Frontal : Breadth 

 two-thirds to three-fourths the length ; meeting postfrontal at 

 rim of orbit. Parietal : No keel inferior Jy. Quadrate : 

 Oblique from above backwards, extreme length superiorly 

 three -fifths its depth. Maxilla : Not extending beyond 

 palatine anteriorly, extending beyond palatine poste- 

 riorly. 



Dentition. — From two species in my collection. Maxillary : 

 Postnodal, 3 to 5 ; isodont. Palatine : 5 to 6 ; anododont, 

 isodont ; with a short edentulous space posteriorly that would 

 accommodate one tooth. Pterygoid : 17 to 22 ; anododont, 

 isodont ; posterior third to fourth edentulous. Mandibular : 

 12 to 16 ; anododont, scaphiodont. 



There are two species, viz., curtus and hardwickei. 



* Stejneger (Herp., Japan, 1907, p. 435) points out that the generic 

 name should be Gray's Lapemis. 



