236 SNAKES OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



Measuremeids of Laticauda semifasoiata (Reinvyardt) . 



mm. 



Total length 582 



Snout to vent 50''' 



Vent to tip of tail '^5 



"The young (in alcohol) are of a light bluish gray with 

 blackish brown rings and markniys. The latter as the snake 

 grows larger become lighter and the former darker and browner, 

 while the demarcation between them becomes more obscure until 

 in very large specimens the markings become almost obliterated. 

 In the larger specimens therefore the dark gray cross markings 

 correspond to the whitish cross markings in the young. 



"This species grows to a considerable size. The largest spec- 

 imen in our collection (No. 5546) measures 1,097 mm. in total 

 length, with a tail 136 mm. long, wTiile the type measures, re- 

 spectively, 1,118 mm. and 140 mm. 



"Variation. — There is very little variation in the scale for- 

 mula proper, for only in one specimen (No. 5546) have I seen 

 4 temporals on one side, the normal numiber of 3 occurring on the 

 other. In eastern specimens the number of ventrals is rarely 

 as low as 188, but ranges usually between 197 and 212, while 

 the subcaudals vary between 32 and 43 pairs. Sometimes anom- 

 alies are found in the internasals ; thus in No. 106 of the Im- 

 perial Museum, Tokyo, there is a small unpaired shield behind 

 the detached part of the rostral, broadly in contact with it and 

 with the unpaired median prefrontal, and in our No. 7515 there 

 are two unsymmetrical shields detached from the left inter- 

 nasal, as shown in fig. 331." 



Remarks. — This species is included in the Philippine fauna 

 on the strength of a specimen in Silliman Institute, Dumaguete, 

 Oriental Negros, at which town it was captured. The specimen 

 was examined by me in 1917, but I was unable to make an ex- 

 haustive study of it. It is very large and must measure nearly 

 2 meters in length. 



Genus DISTEIRA Lacepede 



Hydrus, part., ScHNEinER, Hist. Amph. 1 (1799) 233; Wagler, Syst. 



Amph. (1830) 165. 

 Hydrophis Daudin, Hist. Nat. Kept. 7 (1803) 372; Gray, Cat. Vip. 



Snal<es (1849) 49; Dumeril and Bibkon, Evp. Gen. 7 (1854) 1341; 



GiJNTHER, Kept. Brit. India (1864) 360. 

 Disteira Lacepede, Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 4 (1804) 210; 



Stejneger, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. 58 (1907) 41S. 

 Leioselasma LACEPf^DE. Ann. Mus. Hist, Nat. Paris 4 (1804) 210. 

 Enhydris Wagler, Nat. Syst. Amph. (1830) 166. 

 Microcephalophis Lesson, in Belanger's Voy. Indes Orient., Rept. 



(1834) 320; Atlas, Rept. pi. 3. 



