Pelagic Sekpents. REPTILES. Acuociioude oe J.wa. 51 
off Port-Jackson in Australia, and on the coast of New 
Zealand. It occurs also in the Pacific Ocean, and is 
said to be eaten by the natives of Tahiti. Dr. Russell 
says that the fishermen of Vizagapatam assert that it 
seldom approached the shore, and that it was a very 
dangerous reptile. 
THE EAHELL KAGAM {Microcephalophis gracilis) 
is also a native of the Indian seas ; Dr. Russell, who 
was amongst the first to describe it, having received 
his specimens from the coast of Tranquebar. It has 
a very small head, a very long and slender neck, and 
the body, which is of a considerably larger size, be- 
comes a little compressed as it approaches the tail, 
which is short, flat, and two-edged. It has a narrow 
mouth, small teeth, and very small globular eyes. It 
attains the length of two feet nine inches, and is of a 
bright blue colour, with cross yellow bands, more 
especially on the neck and tail. The belly is of a 
lighter yellow, with faint blue bands. According to 
Dr. Russell, the bite of this serpent is reputed by the 
natives of India to be not less dangerous than that 
of the cobra de capello. 
THE VALAKADYEH {Enhydrina valakadyen), from 
the Indian seas, has a cylindrical body, of nearly equal 
thickness throughout, or slightly swollen in the middle, 
and a short, compressed, double-edged tail. It has an 
oblong, compressed head, a wide mouth, a blunt muzzle, 
and small round eyes, placed high on the head. It is 
about three feet three inches long, the tail of itself being 
four and a half inches. The upper part of the body 
is of a bluish-gray colour, and the belly yellow. 
The Valakadyen, as it is called by the natives of 
India, is represented by them as very venomous, its 
bite being asserted to be infallibly mortal, if proper 
remedies are not instantly applied. Schlegel considers 
this species to be identical with another serpent de- 
scribed by Dr. Russell under the name of the Hoogli 
Pattee. This snake was one of which Russell had 
living specimens, and which he kept in order to test 
their venomous powers. A fowl bitten in the thigh 
by an individual of this species expired, he says, in 
five minutes. 
THE ACROCHORDIAHS {Acrochordina) are inter- 
mediate between the Pelagic or Sea serpents and the 
Fluviatile species. In this small family the head, 
instead of being covered with shields, is covered with 
small scales like those of the body, which are described 
by Dumeril at)d Bibron as granulated tubercles inserted 
into the skin. The species too, are for the most part 
found living in rivers. Schlegel considers them as 
boas ada{)ted by their organization to live in water. 
They have the prehensile tail of these larger ser- 
pents, but at the same time this organ is in general 
flattened so as to serve the purpose of an oar or rud- 
der. The head and teeth are on the same type as the 
boas ; but the position of the nostrils and eyes, the 
manner in which the mouth can be hermetically closed, 
the compressed form of the body, which is furnished 
with a keel on the under surface, and the absence of 
the spurs or hooks at the side of the vent, all bring 
them more closely to the Pelagic or Sea serpents. 
They have not yet been experimentally proved to be 
poisonous, nor are they incontestably innocuous. The | 
species are few, and as yet have only been observed in 
intertropical Asia. 
THE BANDED CHERSYDRUS {Chersydrus granula- 
tiis or fasciatus) is found in the rivers and on the edge 
of the sea, in the peninsula of Malacca and neighbour- 
ing islands, in the Bay of Manilla, New Guinea, Timor, 
Java, Sumatra, and the coast of Coromandel. In size 
it does not exceed three feet. Dr. Cantor found it in 
tolerable abundance in the Sea of Malacca, where it 
often occurs amongst the fishes taken in the fisher- 
men’s nets. A female taken in that way, he says, 
three or four miles from the coast of Penang, mea- 
sured three feet long and four inches in circumference, 
and had six eggs. These were cylindrical, soft, or 
with a whitish membranous shell, and were an inch 
and a half long. Each egg contained a young one, 
eleven inches long. By its mode of feeding and its 
general habits, he adds, this serpent resembles the 
venomous Pelagic species. In the water it is lively; 
but on land, and especially in the light of day, it 
appears blind, and its movements slow and uncertain. 
THE ACROCHORDE OF JAVA {Acrochordiis Javani- 
cus) — represented in Plate 4, fig G — is of a very 
robust form, with a flattened belly and a conical tail, 
which is very short in proportion to the body, and 
terminates in a point rough with tubercles. The 
Swedish naturalist Hornstedt was the first to describe 
this serpent as occurring in the island of Java, and Dr. 
Cantor has since found it in the island of Penang. The 
Malays, says Dr. Cantor, declare this serpent to be 
rare. During a sojourn of twenty yeai’s at Singapore, 
Dr. Montgomery only observed a specimen once. 
The Malays know it by the name of U'lar Karong 
or U'lar Laut. The physiognomy of this serpent is 
said by Dumeril to resemble very much that of an 
English bull-dog, the head being broad and the muzzle 
short and blunt. The individual mentioned by Horn- 
stedt measured eight feet in length. 
THE FLUVIATILE OK FRESH- WATER SNAKES {Ho- 
malopsind) are nearly equal in number to the Pelagic 
group, about thirty-six being described in the Museum 
catalogue. We know relatively very little of their 
habits, most of the species which have been observed 
living almost continually in the water. They are 
almost all natives of intertropical countries, and have 
been met with in India and China, Java, Borneo, the 
West Indies, and the warm parts of North and South 
America. Many of them attain considerable dimen- 
sions, but they rarely exceed four feet in length, 
though they are as thick as a man’s arm. The great 
proportion of them are truly aquatic, and appear par- 
ticularl}' formed for peopling the immense extents of 
fresh waters found in the intertropical countries of 
Asia and America, and which swarm with fisli, of 
which they make their chief food. Thej'' have a 
peculiar api>earance. The great disproportions of form 
— a short, conical, and robust tail ; a head extremely 
broad, thick, blunt, short, and covered with plates of 
a very irregular and inconstant form ; a short obtuse 
muzzle ; small nostrils, and little eyes directed upwards 
— all these characters concur to render the aspect of 
these animals at once hideous and disgusting. Never- 
theless they are quite harmless, in spite of the malignity 
