Page:The poisonous snakes of India. For the use of the officials and others residing in the Indian Empire (IA poisonoussnakeso01ewar).pdf/104

 52 HYDROPHIS NIGROCINCTA,

two post-oculars; three temporal shields on the side of each occipital. Two pairs of chin-shields, the anterior of which are in contact with each other. Twenty-seven to twenty-nine series of scales round the neck. Scales imbricate, rhombic, keeled; those on the highest side of the body as broad as long. Ventrals distinct, not quite twice as broad as the scales of the adjoining series; smooth ; 320-331 in number. Four large anal-shields. The tail terminates in a large scale. The trunk is encircled by 43(53-)-61 complete rings of black colour. The width of these rings is equal on the sides and on the belly; on the vertebral line only they are a little broader; they are narrower than the inter-spaces, which occupy from four to five transverse series of scales, whilst a black ring occupies only three. The interspaces are greenish-olive on the back, yellowish on the sides and on the belly. The crown of the head and the upper lip aro blackish, a yellow band running along the whole upper margin of the head; lower jaw whitish. Tail with from nine to eleven black cross-bars."