566 COLLUBRINE HYDilUS. 



flat tails, produced in the Indian sea. They are 

 also mentioned by Arrian in the Periplus Maris 

 Erythrcei, &c. &c. Aristotle observes, that ser» 

 pents are either of land or fresh water, or else of 

 the sea, and that these latter have a resemblance in 

 most particulars to Land- Snakes, but have a head 

 like a Conger. It is probable, however, that some 

 of the Muraen^e were confounded by the ancients, 

 as they are even by some of the moderns, with the 

 real or proper Sea-Snakes. 



COLUBRINE HYDRUS. 



Hydrus Colubrinus. H. plumbem cingulis nigris. 

 Lead-coloured Hydrus, with black surrounding bands. 

 Hydrus colubrinus. Schneid. Ampk I. p. 238. 

 Coluber laticaudatus. Lin, S^st, Nat, p, 383. Mus. Ad, Frid, 

 p. 31. t, l6,f. 1. 



This species, which is much more nearly allied 

 to the genus Coluber than any of the rest, is a 

 native of the Indian and American seas, and is 

 frequently seen towards the coasts of the south- 

 ern islands in the Pacific. Its general length is 

 about two feet and a half, but it probably grows 

 to a much larger size : the head is covered with 

 large scales: the body is cylindric, the tail ter- 

 minating in a flattened and moderately dilated 

 tip : along the whole length of the under parts is 

 a series of scuta and of subcaudal scales, as in the 

 genus Coluber, except that they are somewhat 

 less distinctly continued under the compressed 

 part of the tail : the colour of the whole animal is 



