A MONOGRAPH OF THE SEA-SNAKES (HYDROPHIINsE). 219 



species. Most of these specimens I have carefully compared side by side with the speci- 

 mens labelled cyanocincta in the British Museum, and my opinion is the only possible 

 one I see open to me. The forms are as follows : kingi (Boulenger), elegans (Gray), 

 pacificists (Boulenger), semperi (Garman), tuberculata (Anderson), grandis (Boulenger), 

 maefarlani (Boulenger), belcheri (Gray), and frontalis (Jan). 



kingi (Boulenger).— This form rests on the single specimen so named by Mr. 

 Boulenger which is in the British Museum. Contrary to his belief the posterior 

 maxillary teeth are grooved. The only differences apparent in the descriptions of 

 this and cyanocincta in Mr. Boulenger's catalogue are trifling and affect the proportions 

 of the rostral, nasals and frontal, the scales in the body and the relative proportion 

 of the head to the body. I think the slender differences claimed in the head shields 

 may be dismissed without comment. The scales in the body in kingi (37) are only 

 two less than the range given by Mr. Boulenger for cyanocincta, and come well within 

 the range given me by my large series of specimens (35 to 44). The head in kingi 

 recorded as one-third the extreme body depth is within the variation I have observed 

 in examples of cyanocincta. 



I see no reason, therefore, to suppose this a species separable from cyanocincta. 



It is to be noted that this specimen was placed by Gray with his doliata, a form 

 subsequently united by Mr. Boulenger with elegans of the same author (Gray), which 

 form I am unable also to separate from cyanocincta. 



elegans (Gray). — The three young specimens so named in the British Museum 

 and the only ones known, constitute, I think, a very distinct colour variety of cyano- 

 cincta, but no more. I have failed, I find, to record the condition of the posterior 

 maxillary teeth, possibly owing to the small size of the specimens. A comparison of 

 Mr. Boulenger's descriptions of the two forms shows they are identical except for the 

 single anterior temporal, and the slightly shorter frontal shield in elegans. A single 

 anterior temporal occurs in at least five of the British Museum specimens of cyano- 

 cincta, so this feature cannot be made use of to differentiate this from allied forms. 

 A comparison of these three specimens with many cyanocincta made it impossible for 

 me to consider them apart. 



A B 



Fig. 30. — Distira pacifica. After Boulenger, Cat., vol. iii, pi. xii, fig. 2. 



pacificus (Boulenger). — Known from a single adult specimen in the British 

 Museum from New Britain. I find that the posterior maxillary teeth are grooved, 

 and a careful comparison of this with specimens labelled cyanocincta in the same col- 

 lection shows no points by which it is possible to separate it from them. The neck- 

 scales of pacificus , correctly stated in Mr. Boulenger's description (Catalogue, page 279), 

 are wrongly given in his key (page 272) ; the correct count, viz., 27 to 29, agrees with 



