HYDROPHIS STRICTICOLLIS. 



" Head narrow, not quite twice as long as broad ; body slender, 

 especially in its anterior portion. Two pairs of chin-shields, both of 

 which are in contact with each other. Only one anterior temporal, 

 which is as high as long. One post-ocular. Thirty -four series of scales 

 round the neck. Ventral shields distinct, but only the anterior are 

 twice as broad as the scales of the adjoining series ; they are 398 in 

 number. Six small prae-anal shields. Scales smooth in young specimens. 

 Body with fifty-five blackish rings, not quite as broad as the yellowish 

 ground-colour between them ; they are rather broader and darker on 

 the back than on the belly, and sometimes sub-interrupted in the 

 vertebral and ventral line. Head yellow above^ with irregular blackish 

 confluent spots ; whitish below. Tail with eleven blackish vertebral 

 bars," 



