248 



SNAKES OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



have been killed by fishermen. A few specimens have been kept 

 alive at various times in the Bureau of Science aquarium. 



It is significant that this species enters 

 Lake Taal, a fresh-water lake connected with 

 the sea by a river only a few kilometers long. 

 From this locality Semper obtained speci- 

 mens, one of which became the type of 

 Carman's Hydrophis semperi. A careful 

 reading of Carman's description "seventh 

 [labial] smallest, and separated from the 

 temporal by a large pentagonal plate" shows 

 the presence of 2 temporals, the "plate" ap- 

 parently being the second temporal. 



Fig. '2i^. Disteira cijano- 

 cincta (Daudin) ; after 

 Jan's D. wesiermanni : 



a. head, lateral view : 



b, head, lateral view 

 (variation) . 



DISTEIRA CYANOSOMA Wall 



Disteira cyanosoma Wall, Journ. Bombay Nat. 

 Hist. Soc. 22 (1913) .516, 



Description of .specie.?.— (After the type description.) Ros- 

 tral broader than high, in contact with 4 shields ; nasals in con- 

 tact vni\\ each other: suture from nostril passing to second 

 supralabial; 2 prefrontals in contact mth second supralabial; 

 frontal touches 6 shields, frontalparietal sutures rather the 

 longest; parietals entire; 1 preocular; 2 postoculars; 2 tempo- 

 rals on right side, 3 on left side, all longer than high ; 8 supra- 

 labials, third and fourth touching the eye, sixth and seventh 

 small, eighth elongate; 2 pairs of chin shields, subequal, the 

 posterior pair quite separated by small scales; 4 lower labials, 

 fourth largest, a cuneate scale wedged between third and fourth; 

 3.3 scale rows on neck, 37 in middle of body, 35 a short distance 

 in front of anus ; scales subimbricate, faintly tuberculate ; ven- 

 trals, 213 ( ?) * enlarged, entire, not quite twice the width of the 

 last row of scales. 



Color. — Uniformly bluish, deeper dorsally, paler on sides and 

 on belly. 



Remarlcs. — No measurements of this species are given ; since 

 the number of scale rows on the neck is only four less than in 

 midbody it is safe to suppose that the species does not belong to 

 the small-headed, narrow-necked group of this genus. 



The species was sent from the Philippines, but the exact local- 

 ity 's not recorded. Wall states that it bears a pronounced 



* Wall's query. 



