SPIRAL HYDRUS. S6S 



seeming to constitute so many large, round, yel- 

 low spots on a blackish ground : the back, at 

 about the middle, is marked, along its upper part, 

 with a row of rather large, round, blackish spots 

 situated between the fascias, and so placed as to 

 be in some parts on one side, and in others on 

 the opposite side of the dorsal carina, while some 

 few are seated on the middle of the ridge itself : 

 this variegation is continued' to the tail, which is 

 about an inch and three quarters long, black or 

 deep brown, with a few yellow patches towards its 

 beginning : it is remarkably broad for the size of 

 the animal, and very thin on the edges, so as to 

 be semitransparent on those parts. The most re- 

 markable circumstance in this snake is the singu- 

 lar obliquity of its form ; the body in different 

 parts being alternately flatter on one side than the 

 other, and the pattern completely expressed on 

 the flattened side only ; the other or more convex 

 side being unmarked by the round spots, and lying 

 as it were beneath ; thus constituting several al- 

 ternately spiral curves: this snake seems of an 

 unusually stiff and elastic nature, and the carina 

 on the back is so sharp as to surpass in this re- 

 spect every other species of serpent. The speci- 

 men is in the British Museum, but its ][)aj'ticular 

 history seems to be unknown. 



