SEA-SNAKES. 
adaptation to an aquatic life. Living in the sea, or in tidal waters, their move¬ 
ments in the clear blue water are agile and elegant; but when thrown ashore, 
as frequently happens, the majority are helpless. Their food consists of fish and 
such other creatures as they can capture in the sea. In parts of the Bay of Bengal, 
sea-snakes are sometimes seen congregating in large shoals. The group is divided 
into nine genera, no less than six of which are represented in Indian waters. 
Broad-Tailed The broad-tailed sea-snakes, of which there are three species. 
Sea-Snakes, constituting the genus Platurus, in general appearance closely 
resemble some of the craits, especially as regards the shape of the skull and the 
scaling of the head and body, but are distinguished by the compression and depth 
BANDED SEA-SNAKE (3 nat. size). 
of the tail. In the upper jaw, which is very short, there is in the maxilla of each 
side a pair of large grooved fangs, followed by a single very small solid tooth. 
The arrangement of the shields of the head is normal, each nostril being pierced in 
a laterally-placed nasal; the scales on the body are smooth and overlapping, and 
the inferior surface is covered with large shields. Of the three species, the banded 
sea-snake (P. laticaudatus) is distinguished by the absence of a keel on the lower 
surface of the hinder-part of the body, and also of an unpaired shield on the 
muzzle; the scales being arranged in nineteen rows. In colour, it is olive above 
and yellowish beneath, with black rings fully equal in width to the light inter¬ 
spaces'. Attaining a length of a little over a yard, this species ranges from the 
Bay of Bengal and the China Sea to Polynesia. An allied but larger species 
