204. HYDETIS. 267 



Maxillary longer than the ectopterygoid, not extending forwards 

 as far as the palatine ; poison-fangs rather short, followed, after a 

 short interspace, by 7 or 8 solid teeth. Nostrils superior; snout long ; 

 head-shields large, nasals in contact with each other ; a prseocular ; 

 no loreal. Body rather short ; scales hexagonal or squarish, juxta- 

 posed ; no distinct ventrals. 



Indian and Pacific Oceans. 



1. Hydms platnrus. ^ 



Russell, Ind. Serp. i. pi. xli. (1796). 



Anguis platura, Zinn. S. N. i. p. 391 (1766). 



Hydras bicolor, Schneid. Hist. Amph. i. p. 242 (1799) ; Cantor, Cat. 



Mai. Rept. p. 135 (1847). 

 Hydrophis platura, Latr. Rept. iv. p. 197 (1801). 

 Pelamis bicolor, baud. Rept. vii. p. 366, pi. Ixxxix. (1803) ; Oray, 



Cat. p. 41 (1849) ; Dum. 8f Bihr. vii. p. 1335 (1854) ; Qunfh. 



Rept. Brit. Ind. p. 382 (1864) ; Krefit, Sn. Austral, p. 98, pi. xii. 



flg. 19 (1869) ; Strauch, Schl. Russ. R. p. 199 (1873) ; Fayrer, 



Thanatoph. Ind. pi. xvii. (1874); Peters ^ Doria, Ann. Mus. 



Oenova, xiii. 1878, p. 416; Murray, Zool. Sind, p. 397 (1883); 



Fish, Proa. Zool. Soc. 1885, p. 482. . 

 Hydrophis pelamis, ScMeg. Phys. Serp. ii. p. 508, pi. xviii. figs. 13-15 



(1837), and Faun. Japon., Rept. p. 90, pi. viii. (1838). 

 Pelamis ornata, Gray, Zool. Misc. p. 60 (1842), and Cat. p. 43. 

 Hydrophis bicolor, Fischer, Abh. Naturw. Hamb. iii. 1856, p. 61 ; 



Jan, Icon. G4n. 40, pis. ii. & iii. (1872). 

 Pelamis platurus, Stohczka, Proc. As. Soc. Beng. 1872, p. 92 ; Garm. 



Bull. Essex Inst. xxiv. 1892, p. 88. 

 Hydrus platm-us, Bouleng. Faun. Ind., Rept. p. 397 (1890) ; Boettg. 



Ber. Offeiib. Ver. Nat. 1892, p. 88. 



Rostral as deep as broad or a little broader than deep ; frontal 

 large, at least as long as the snout or the parietals ; one or two 

 prae- and two or three postoculars ; one or two suboculars some- 

 times present ; temporals small and numerous ; seven or eight 

 upper labials, second in contact with the prsefrontal, fourth, fifth, 

 or fourth and fifth usually entering the eye ; chin-shields small or 

 indistinct. 45 to 47 scales round the body, smooth in the female 

 and young, laterals and ventrals rough with one, two, or three 

 small tubercles in the male. Black or brown and yeUow, the 

 markings very variable. 



Total length 700 miUim. ; tail 80. 



Indian Ocean ; Tropical and Subtropical Pacific. 



A. Yellow, with brown, black-edged cross-bands; black bars 



between the cross-bands, on the sides of the belly. (P. ornata. 

 Gray.) 



a. Yg. Borneo. (Type of P. arnat.a) 



b. Yg. , India (?). 



B. Anterior third of body with a black dorsal stripe ; further back, 



a series of transverse dorsal rhombs on the back, and black 

 spots on the sides and belly. (Var. maculata, Jan.) 

 a, Yg. ? Zoological Society. 



