SNAKES OF CEYLON. 339 



Gostals : Longer than broad on the constricted anterior part 

 of the body, about as broad as long on the compressed part ; 

 imbricate everywhere ; with short bidentate keels about the 

 median two-fourths of each scale, the anterior tooth much 

 longer than the posterior, which is minute. 19 to 23 rows two 

 heads-lengths behind the head ; 25 to 32 in midbody ; and 

 from 26 to 33 two heads -lengths before the vent. Yentrals : 

 277 to 354 ; entire throughout, and nearly twice as broad as 

 the last costals. 



(&) Anomalies — Prseocular : Very rarely absent. Supra- 

 labials : The 6th sometimes separated from the posterior 

 temporal by one scale. Sublinguals : The fellows of the 

 posterior pair are rarely separated by one scale. 



Dentition. — Detailed under the genus. 



Distribution. — (a) General : From Karwar on the 

 Coromandel Coast of India to Mergui on the Tenasserim Coast. 



(b) Local : Of twenty specimens examined by me only two 

 are from the Coromandel Coast, both from Karwar. I failed 

 to get it at Cannanore, and it is not represented in the 

 Trivandrum Museum. I saw no example in the Colombo 

 Museum, and there is no record of one from Ceylon. Most of 

 the specimens are from the Chilka Lake, where it is a fairly 

 eomm^on snake. Dr. Annandale tells me that it appears to be 

 the only hydrophid inhabiting that water. The type (and 

 also the type of Daudin's Moris) is from the Sunderbunds, 

 and I have seen several other specimens from the same locality 

 and the Hoogly river. I have had one from Chittagong, three 

 from the Burmese Coast, and have seen two others from Mergui. 

 The type of Gunther's latifasciatws is also from Mergui. 



Genus DOLICHODIRA Gen. nov. 

 (Greek " dolichos " long, " dira " neck.) 



General Characters. — Length moderate. One of the five very 

 slender -necked species, the diameter of the body anteriorly 

 one-third to one-fourth the extreme depth posteriorly. 



Cranial Osteological Characters — Nasals : Sutured to frontal 

 and prsefrontals, longer than frontal. Preefrontals : Meeting 

 parietal and postfrontals. Frontal : As broad as long ; not 

 meeting postfrontal at rim of orbit. Parietal : Not keeled 



49 6(6)2Q 



