known [in 1837] twenty are found in the Indian Ocean, sixteen in the salt water ditches of India and the neighbouring Islands, and six in similar situations in tropical America.[1]
Genus Hydrophis. (Daud.)
The belly in this genus is furnished with a range of scales a little larger than those which cover the body; the head is small, not bulging behind, rounded in front, and surmounted by large plates. The species are found in the salt-water canals of Bengal, and in the Indian Ocean.
We illustrate this genus, of which little is known, by the Banded Sea-Snake, or Chittul (Hydrophis fasciatus, Shaw), a slender species, about five feet in length, the ground-colour of which is blue, with alternate circular bands of yellowish white.
Our acquaintance with this interesting group is mainly due to the observations of Dr. Cantor, embodied in a paper on the Marine Serpents, published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society. The author alludes to the Marine Ophidians as a group of Vertebrata, to which but little attention had hitherto been given, from the circumstance of the danger attending their examination in the living state, and also from their geographical distribution being entirely confined to the tropical seas. The author being stationed in the East India Company’s service, on the Delta of the Ganges, had during a considerable period, most favourable opportunities for study-
- ↑ “Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” 1837, p. 135.
