Page:The poisonous snakes of India. For the use of the officials and others residing in the Indian Empire (IA poisonoussnakeso01ewar).pdf/105

 HYDROPHIS CORONATA.

"Head very small, twice as long as broad; neck very slender, its length being more than one-third of total. Rostral shield small, broader than long; one post-ocular; the third upper labial is not in contact with the nasal. Two pairs of chin-slields, which are in contact with each: other. Nineteen to twenty-three series of scales round the neck. Scales imbricate, those on the highest part of the body higher than long, those on the sides with a small tubercle, those on the back with a keel. Ventral shields very distinct, nearly twice as large as the scales of the adjoining series, 321–337 in number, each with two small tubercles. Four anal shields, the outer of which are rather larger than tle others. Trunk with from fifty-three to fifty-nine complete blackish rings, which are broader than the interspaces of the yellowish-olive ground-colour. Head and ventral side of the thin neck-like portion of the body black; the former with a yellow horseshoe-shaped mark across the frontals and nasals, and extending backwards over the superciliary edge to the temple. Tail with len or eleven blackish cross-bars."