HO HYDROPHIS SHAWII. 



Spec. Char. Body much compressed; back cari- 

 nated ; colour yellow, barred from head to tail with 

 deep chesnut fasciae, widening on the abdomen ; body 

 alternately flatter on one side than the other. 



Hydrus spiralis; Shaw, Zool. iii. 1. 125. 



This elegant species which is described by Dr. Shaw under the 

 name of the Spiral Hydrus, is about two feet in length, and of a 

 slender form ; the body compressed throughout ; the dorsal carina 

 very acute ; that of the abdomen with a flattened edge of scales 

 somewhat wider than the rest, and about the sixteenth of an inch 

 in diameter. The head is small ; the mouth wide ; the scales on 

 the head large; those on the body rather small, ovate, and slightly 

 carinated. The general colour is yellowish, with bars of deep 

 chesnut brown, each dilating on the belly and the back ; from 

 about the middle nearly to the tail is marked with a series of large, 

 round, black spots. The tail is of a black or deep brown colour, 

 very broad, and so very thin on the edges as to be nearly trans- 

 parent. The most remarkable circumstance in this snake is the 

 singular obliquity of its form, the body in different parts being alter- 

 nately flatter on one side than the other. It inhabits India, and is 

 in all probability poisonous, but its particular history seems to be 

 very imperfectly known. - 



HYDROPHIS SHAWII.— tfiW* Water-Snake. 



Spec Char. Body livid brown, with brown decurrent 

 bands, and hexagonal abruptly carinated bands. 



Hydrus Major ; Shato, Zool. iii. t. 124. 



This is a large species, first accurately described by Dr. Shaw from 

 a specimen in the British Museum. It is more than three feet in 

 length, and of a pale livid colour, marked throughout the whole 

 length of the back and tail by a series of large transverse semi- 



