OCR Text |
Show 462 DR. A. GUNTHER ON AMPHISBiENIANS AND [Apr. 5, posed of two scutes; nostril inferior ; prseocular above the third and fourth labials ; a small ocular, with the eye very indistinct;; an infraocular between the ocular and fifth labial Five upper labials. Temporals small, in two transverse series. -Mentale much longer than broad ; three lower labials ; gulars small. No enlarged sternal scutes. Prseanal scutes very narrow, elongate, in four pairs. Iwo pairs of prseanal pores. Lateral line none. Extremity of the tail depressed. PACHYCALAMUS BREVIS, sp. n. One verticillus consists of 48 scutes. Upper parts slate-coloured, lower white. This must be a common species, as many specimens were collected. One of the largest is 7j inches long, the tail being \ inch. Probably the species remains within these dimensions. B. OPHIDIA. 1. TYPHLOPS, sp. This specimen is young, and too small for identification. DITYPOPHIS (g. n. Coronellid.). Body stout, rounded, covered with smooth scales. Head depressed, not very distinct from neck. Eye rather small, with vertical pupil. One loreal; two anterior and two posterior oculars ; nasal undivided above, but divided below the nostril. Subcaudals undivided. Posterior maxillary tooth longest, grooved. This Coronelline Snake is evidently allied to Tachymenis, but has several characters in common with Dipsadoboa. From the former it is distinguished by its entire subcaudal shields, from the latter by its much stouter habit. 2. DITYPOPHIS VIVAX, sp. n. (Plate XL.) At the first glance this Snake reminds us of Tachymenis vivax, especially with regard to the form of the head ; but it is still stouter than that species. The posterior and anterior frontals are subequal in size ; the superciliaries large, nearly the size of the vertical; the occipitals as long as the vertical and posterior frontals together. The upper prseocular is in contact with the vertical; the lower is much smaller, and, in fact, a detached portion of the third upper labial. Temporals scale-like, 2 + 3 or 4. Eight upper labials] the fourth and fifth entering the orbit. Four lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields. Scales in 21 series, those of the median series not differing in size from the others. Ventral shields 150 ; anal entire ; subcaudals 39. The coloration is reddish sandy, with indistinct darker cloudy spots on the back ; lower parts whitish. In a dry sandy locality the colour of this Snake must so much assimilate to that of its surroundings as to render the animal nearly invisible. |