Abstract
1. 1. Serum albumins of 7 species of sea snakes and 15 terrestrial elapids representing 5 subfamilies were compared using microcomplement fixation. 2. 2. Albumin data showed that (a) Laticauda is closely related to hydrophiines supporting earlier transferrin data and (b) that sea snakes are closer to Australasian elapids than to elapids on other continents. 3. 3. The grouping of Australasian elapids in subfamily Acathophiinae is supported. Micrurus shows no close affinity to Laticauda, and placing it in subfamily Elapinae is suggested. 4. 4. Naja albumin is either widely divergent from other elapids or its albumin has evolved at a faster rate than that of other elapids. 5. 5. The divergence times for certain snake groups calculated from albumin data are not compatible with the times derived from fossil records.
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