OCR Text |
Show 820 MR. W. FERGUSON ON A NEW ASPIDURA. [Dec. 5. rows of scales round the body. A. brachyorrhos has never, as far as I know, been found near the coast of Ceylon, whilst A. guentheri occurs close to the coast, and never far from it. A. guentheri is not the young of any other species of Aspidura; because I have seen about one hundred specimens, and I have never seen one longer than about 6 inches, whilst amongst them were several young ones from 1^ to 2 inches in length, retaining all the specific characters and coloration of their parents. A young A. brachyorrhos, the size of A. guentheri does not in any way differ from its parents or approach A. guentheri. A. guentheri differs from A. brachyorrhos markedly in the following respects-its small size and dark colour, in the number of its ventrals and subcaudals, its hexagonal-shaped and non-imbricate scales, its pointed snout, the extension backwards of the anterior frontal between the postfrontals, the separation of the preocular from the superciliary by the postfrontal, which runs into the eye, the larger size of the upper postorbital, and the scales it is in contact with. In twelve specimens of A. guentheri examined by me, the average number of ventrals was 109f, subcaudals 20|, totals 130^, total length 5*83 inches, length of tail 0*72 inch. The lowest number of ventrals, 104, has the largest number of subcaudals =26. Colombo, Ceylon. August 29, 1876. |