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Show 1871.] DR. J. ANDERSON ON INDIAN REPTILES. 191 black cross bands passing right round the body; but, besides these* there are occasionally aborted bands, the remnants of which are found either as large black dorsal spots or imperfect bands on the belly half. There is a black spot on the back of the neck between the first band that passes across from the angles of the month and the one behind it. In every other particular this specimen differs in no way from typical II. jerdonii. Pooree. This specimen is much infected with Cirripedes and Tubularious Zoophytes, which seem to indicate that it is not of very active habits. HYDROPHIS CYANOCINCTA, Daud.; Gthr. 1. c. p. 367. . Length (total) 50f inches, tail 4f. Pooree. HYDROPHIS CHLORIS, Daud.; Gthr. I. c. p. 370. This specimen has the third labial not in contact with nasal on one side; but on the other, throughout, the third labial is broadly in contact with the nasals, as a small labial has been formed between the first and second, thus converting the latter into a third labial. If this arrangement had occurred on both sides, it might, perhaps, have given rise to another synonym for this species. Hydrophids are frequently cast ashore on the Pooree coast; but they soon die, even when every care is taken of them. HYDROPHIS LINDSAYI, Gray ; Gthr. I. c. p. 371, var. A. Aturia lindsayi, Gray, Zool. Misc. p. 6. Hydrophis lindsayi, Gray, Viper. Snakes, p. 50. H. "gracilis," Shaw; Giinth. Ind. Rept. p. 371 Theobald (in part.), Cat. Rept. As. Soc. Mus. p. 68. Head very small, not distinct from the neck, which is very long and whip-like ; the slender portion of the body equals more than one-third of the total length. The rostral pentagonal, as broad as high, the lower margin with a median process and a concavity on either side of it; nasals oblong, with the nostrils in their posterior half, in the angle formed by the posterior and external margins ; frontals longer than broad ; vertical shield-shaped, very slightly smaller than a superciliary; occipitals much elongate, rounded posteriorly. One praeocular and one postocular; two large temporal shields alongside of the occipital. Third labial not in contact with the nasal; second labial very large ; first lower labials forming a broad suture behind the mental, and succeeded by a pair of pentagonal chin-shields forming a broad suture and succeeded by a triangular pair widely divergent behind. Scales imbricate, in twenty-ei° ht series round the neck, each with a prominent tubercle near the tip. Ventral shields on the slender portion of the body twice as large as the surrounding scales, smooth anteriorly, but with two tubercles when they reach the thick part of the body, where they |
