HYDROPHIS CORONATA. 



" Head very small, twice as long as broad ; neck very slender, its 

 length being more than one-third of total Rostral shield small, broader 

 than long ; one post-ocular ; the third upper labial is not in contact with 

 the nasal. Two pairs of chin-shields, which are in contact with each 

 other. Nineteen to twenty-three series of scales round the neck. 

 Scales imbricate, those on the highest part of the body higher than long, 

 those on the sides with a small tubercle, those on the back with a keel. 

 Ventral shields very distinct, nearly twice as large as the scales of the 

 adjoining series, 321-337 in number, each with two small tubercles. 

 Four anal shields, the outer of which are rather larger than the others. 

 Trunk with from fifty-three to fifty-nine complete blackish rings, which 

 are broader than the interspaces of the yellowish-ohve ground-colour. 

 Head and ventral side of the thin neck-like portion of the body black ; 

 the former with a yellow horseshoe-shaped mark across the frontals and 

 nasals, and extending backwards over the superciliary edge to the temple. 

 Tail with ten or eleven blackish cross-bars." 



