156 [August, 



these we liave about 40, comprising 132 individuals, with many duplicates of 

 several of the species, twentj'-one specimens, for instance, of Gongylus ocellatus. 

 They include the following genera, viz., Scincus, Sphenops, Gongylus, Ples- 

 tiodon, Eumeces, Euprepis, Lygosoma, Tropidolopisma, Leiolopisma, Cyclodus, 

 Trachysaurus, Ablepharus, Seps, Anguis and Acoutias. 



[Fam. BOID^. 



Gen. NoTOPHis, nob. 



Char. Head small, triangular, depressed above ; eyes of moderate size, late- 

 ral, supraciliary plates not projecting ; anterior half of head covered with well 

 defined plates, posterior with scales ; two internasals ; two anterior and two 

 posterior frontals, the former passing down alongside of the head to meet the 

 superior labials ; nostrils in a single plate ; eleven plates upon the top of the 

 head, viz., two internasals, two anterior and two posterior frontals, a vertical 

 and two occipitals, with several small plates between them ; a loral, one ante- 

 rior orbitar and three posterior orbitars ; a row of hexagonal scales larger than 

 the others running along the median line of the back ; prasanal scute and sub- 

 caudal plates single ; ventral scutes quite narrow. 



NOTOPHIS BICARINATUS, nob. 



Char. Color uniformly yellow, with a tinge of red upon the abdomen ; nine 

 superior labials, the sixth higher than the others ; dorsal middlle row bi-cari- 

 nate, the rest uni-carinate ; carinfe quite distinct ; 27 rows of scales ; 215 longitu- 

 dinal rows upon body ; 41 upon tail. 



Dimensions. Total length 1 foot 8| inches ; of tail 2 inches 4 lines, (prehensile.) 

 Habitat. Cuba. One specimen presented by Gavin Watson, M. D. 



Descriptions of new species of African Birds, in the Museum of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, of Philadelphia, collected by Mr. P. B. Du Chaillu, in Equatorial Africa. 



By John Cassin. 



Gencs ]\IELIGN0THES, nobis. 



Bill short, thick and conical. Wings rather long ; second, third and fourth 

 quills longest and nearly equal. Tail moderate. Allied to the genus Indicator, 

 Vieillot. 



The short billed Indicators form a distinct group, easily recognized by the bill, 

 as above described. Heretofore there have been known Indicator minor, Stephens, 

 (/. minimum, Temm.) and Indicator xanthonotus, Blyth, belonging to this group, 

 but in neither of them is the bill so short and thick as in the two species that 

 we are now about to describe. 



1. MELICXOTnES CONIROSTEIS, HObiS. 



About the size of/, minor and resembling it, but with the bill thicker ; wings 

 shorter ; legs and toes longer. Bill short, thick, wide and rather suddenly com- 

 pressed at the tip ; nostrils large ; third and fourth quills slightly longest. Legs 

 stout; toes long ; tail moderate, rounded. 



Dimensions. Total length (of skin) 5| inches, wings 3j, tail 2\, bill i inch. 



Colors. Head above dark cinereous, every feather nearly black in the middle; 

 back, rump, upper tail co\'erts and wing coverts with every feather brownish 

 black in the middle and edged on both sides with golden yellow. Quills brown- 

 ish black, edged externally with the yellow of the back; narrow on the primaries, 

 wider on the secondaries. Feathers of the throat white at base, dark at their 

 tips. Small space on the abdomen and flanks white, with longitudinal stripes of 

 dark ashy brown. Other under parts and sides of the head and neck clear dark 

 cinereous, under tail coverts slightly edged with white. Under wing coverts 

 ashy. Tail, with the four central feathers brownish black, narrowly edged with 



