SNAKES OF CEYLON. 419 



Costals : As broad as or broader than long, last three or 

 four rows enlarged ; square, oblong, or hexagonal ; juxtaposed 

 everywhere, with a central tubercle, which may be obscure 

 in the anterior part of the body in females, strong in males, 

 and those in the lowest three rows spinose in old males. In 

 25 to 33 rows two heads-lengths behind the head ; 27 to 40 

 in midbody ; and 27 to 37 two heads-lengths before the vent. 

 Ventrals : 130 to 214 ; not enlarged, except to a variable extent 

 anteriorly ; otherwise, smaller than the last costals. Anal : 

 divided into four or six parts. 



(b) Anomalies — Rostral : Sometimes with a partial suture 

 in the median line above. Nasals : Sometimes divided by 

 more than two sutures radiating from the nostril. One such 

 integral part forms a pseudo-loreal on one side in the type 

 specimen, and similar specimens led Gray to separate them 

 under the name loreata. The outer suture rarely runs to the 

 2nd supralabial. Prefrontals : Rarely touch the 3rd as well 

 as the 2nd supralabial. Rarely touch no supralabial. 

 Frontal : Rarely more or less disintegrate posteriorly. 

 Parietals : Sometimes very irregularly disintegrate. Swpra- 

 labials : The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th sometimes divided into an 

 upper and lower part ; 3rd and 5th, or 4th or 5th, only 

 touching the eye, owing to a confluence of the normal shields. 

 Cuneate : Sometimes not a complete series, the 5th infralabial 

 reaching the labial border. 



Dentition. — From one skull in my collection. Maxillary : 

 Postnodal, 3 to 5. Palatine : 5 to 6. Pterygoid : 17. 

 Mandibular : 13 to 14. 



Distribution. — (a) General : Bay of Bengal through the 

 Malayan region to New Guinea and Philippines. 



(b) Local : Apparently very rare on the western side of the 

 Bay of Bengal. The only record I can find is Fayrer's 

 specimen from Puri, Orissa, in the Indian Museum (No. 8,270), 

 which Anderson made the type of fayreriana. I have failed 

 to procure a single specimen on our Indian (including Burmese) 

 Coasts out of the many hundreds of hydrophids that have 

 passed through my hands. It is evidently common in the 

 Mergui Archipelago, for I have examined no less than eleven 

 examples from that locality preserved in the Indian Museum. 

 59 6(6)20 



