SEA SNAKES. 



Pelamis bicolor. 



Giinther's description is as follows : — " Head flat, with very long, 

 spatulate snout ; neck rather stout ; body of moderate length. Nasal 

 shields contiguous, longer than broad, pierced by the nostril posteriorly ; 

 only one pair of frontals. Scales not imbricate, not polished, tubercular 

 or concave. Ventral shields none, or very narrow. Lower jaw without 

 notch in front **. Two or three post-orbitals. Neck surrounded by 

 from forty-five to fifty-one longitudinal series of scales. From 378 to 

 440 scales in a lateral longitudinal series between the angle of the mouth 

 and the vent. Coloration variable." 



Varieties : — " a. Colour, black above ; sides and belly uniform 

 brownish olive ; tail with black spots. 



" /3. Back black ; belly and sides brown ; separated by a black and 

 yellow band. Large spots posteriorly. 



" 7. Black of back narrow, becomes sinuous behind middle of the 

 body ; posteriorly a dorsal series of rhombic confluent spots. Sides 

 and belly with an irregular series of rounded black or brown spots. 



"S. Yellow, with about fifty brown, black-edged cross-bands, 

 extending nearly to the belly, which is crossed by narrow vertical 

 brownish- black streaks, alternating with the dorsal bands. Some of the 

 dorsal bands are confluent, forming a zigzag band. Head yellow, varie- 

 gated with black." 



This is the only species of the genus Pelamis. It has a wide 

 distribution — wider indeed than that of any other known salt-water 

 snake. It abounds in the Bay of Bengal, and in " all the Eastern seas." 

 A specimen sent by Mr. Stewart, of Pooree, to Sir Joseph Fayrer, is 

 "twelve and a half inches long, and is uniform black above, the sides 

 and the belly being of a bright gamboge yeUow, tail with black spots, 

 separated by a well-defined line. It is described as being very 

 poisonous, and killed a fowl rapidly." 



