HYDROPHIDiE. 
25 
somewhat compressed; the belly carinate; the tail flat and 
compressed, almost like a fish’s fin ; the nostrils vertical; the 
eyes small. 
I have received fine specimens from the neighbourhood of 
Calcutta, from the tidal streams near Mutlah. One lived 
twenty-four hours after it reached me; it was made to close its 
jaws on a fowl, and killed it in seven minutes. Some hours 
after its death its jaws were forcibly closed on a fowl’s thigh, 
and the bird died in four hours. The poison is evidently very 
virulent. The colour of the specimen, which is 36 inches in 
length and 3-J. inches in girth, is bluish-grey, with dark grey 
hands across the hack; belly whitish. It is figured and 
described in Eussell’s Indian Serpents, vol. ii. table xi. as 
“ Valakadyen ;” vol. ii. table x. as “ Hooghly Pattee.” 
Russell says the Valakadyen lias no fangs, but this is clearly 
a mistake, the fangs are well marked, and it is very poisonous. 
It is common in the Bay of Bengal, and is found in the 
tidal streams of the Soonderbuns. Pine specimens have been 
sent to me from the tidal streams near Calcutta. The largest 
specimen is 48 inches long, of which the tail is 5J inches; the 
largest part of body in girth is 5f inches; neck 2^ inches. 
Colour bluish-grey, with darker bands of deeper shade of 
same colour. Belly whitish; tail compressed like the fin or 
tail of a fish. The specimen is a female. 
PELAMIS. 
This genus has only a single species, one of the most common 
of the sea-snakes, and has the widest range of distribution. 
It is common in the Bay of Bengal and in all the eastern 
seas. 
Gunther’s description is :—“ Head flat, with very long, spatu- 
late snout; neck rather stout; body of moderate length. 
Nasal shields contiguous, longer than broad, pierced by the 
nostril posteriorly ; only one pair of frontals. Scales not 
imbricate, not polished, tubercular or concave. Ventral 
shields none or very narrow. Lower jaw without notch in 
front.” 
Pelamis platurus. 
Pelamis platurus, linn. 
„ bicolor, Daud.; Gunther. 
Hydrus bicolor, Schneider. 
Hydrophis variegata, Schleg. 
„ pelamis, Schleg. 
Pelamis ornata, Gray. 
“Two or three post-orbitals. Neck surrounded by from 
forty-five to fifty-one longitudinal series of scales. From 378 
to 440 scales in a lateral longitudinal series between the angle 
of the mouth and the vent. Coloration variable.” 
A specimen sent by Mr. Stewart from Pooree, is 12J inches 
long, and is uniform black above, the sides and the belly being 
of a bright gamboge yellow, tail with black spots, separated by 
a well-defined line. It is described as being very poisonous, 
and killed a fowl rapidly. 
It is called “ Kullundur” by the native fishermen on that 
coast, and is deemed by them to be very poisonous. 
Gunther describes four varieties :— 
a. Colour black above; sides and belly uniform brownish 
olive ; tail with black spots. 
(3. Back black; belly and sides brown, separated by a black 
and a yellow band. Large spots posteriorly. 
y. Black of hack narrow, becomes sinuous behind middle 
of the body; posteriorly a dorsal series of rhombic confluent 
spots. Sides and belly with an irregular series of rounded, 
black or brown spots. This variety has been named sinuata. 
S. “ Yellow, with about fifty brown, black-edged cross bands, 
extending nearly to the belly, which is crossed by narrow 
vertical brownish-black streaks, alternating with the dorsal 
bands. Some of the dorsal bands are confluent, forming a 
zigzag band. Head yellow, variegated with black. H. varie¬ 
gata, Schleg.; P. ornata, Gray; varietas alternans, Fischer.” 
The individual from Pooree is the young of Variety a. 
HYDROPHIS, Daud. 
This genus has many species, and furnishes the greater pro¬ 
portion of sea-snakes found on these coasts. Gunther gives 
about twenty-seven species as occurring in the Indian Seas, and 
Dr. Anderson of the Indian Museum informs me that he has 
described several additional new species. It is very pro¬ 
bable that others have not yet been described. They present 
considerable variety of form and coloration; some have elon¬ 
gated necks and small heads, the posterior part of the body 
being much larger than the anterior. Others have not this 
characteristic ; but they have all a strong family likeness, and 
may be recognised at once by their compressed bodies, fin-like 
tails, and the general absence of well-marked ventral scut;e. 
They are all poisonous, and both of the few with which I have 
experimented, and of those with which experiments have been 
made, and the particulars sent to me, the virus seemed very 
deadly. The fangs are small and grooved, the involution not 
being so complete as in the land snakes. They are entirely 
pelagic, though they may be found in tidal rivers, and when 
thrown on shore by the surf, or caught and placed on land, are 
helpless. They seem to be delicate, and seldom live long in 
captivity—a II. coronata sent to me from one of the tidal 
streams near Calcutta lived some days, being occasionally 
placed in fresh water, and it proved its venomous properties by 
destroying a small chicken on whose thigh its very small jaws 
were forcibly closed. 
Gunther’s description of the genus is as follows :—“ Posterior 
part of the body strongly compressed. Head short or of 
moderate length, shielded above ; only one pair of frontals ; 
nostrils superior, in a single nasal shield, both nasals being 
contiguous to each other. Scales imbricate, or not imbricate, 
not polished, generally with a tubercle or with a keel. Ventral 
shields very narrow, or quite rudimentary or entirely absent. 
Lower jaw without notch in front.” 
He divided them into two classes. Those in which the scales 
are more or less distinctly imbricate; and those in which they 
are placed side by side and not imbricate, and these again are 
variously subdivided. 
The following are the species said to be found in the Indian 
Seas. Besides descriptions of new species by Dr. Anderson, 
I have given the characters in detail, from Gunther, of those 
only that I have figured. The others are to be found in 
his great work on Indian reptiles. I have selected charac¬ 
teristic species, and the figures are all from recent specimens, 
from the Bay of Bengal or tidal streams near Calcutta or from 
such as are preserved in the Indian Museum. It would pro¬ 
tract this work to too great a length to describe or figure more 
than are sufficient fairly to illustrate the most characteristic 
species of the genus. 
Hydrophis jerdonii. Indian Coast and Penang. 
„ stokesii. Doubtful. 
„ major. Indian Ocean generally. 
„ robusta. Indian Coast, Indian Ocean generally. 
„ caerulescens. Bay of Bengal, Penang. 
,, aspera. Said to be found at Singapore. 
„ spiralis. Indian Ocean. 
„ cyanocincta. Bay of Bengal, Ceylon, Indian 
Ocean. 
„ subcincta. Said to be from the Indian Ocean. 
„ nigrocincta. Bay of Bengal. 
„ torquata. Penang, Soonderbuns, Bay of Bengal, 
Indian Ocean, 
