376 Zoological Society : — 



two distinct tubes is not a distinctive character of Furcella, as we 

 have in the British Museum a Teredo or rather a Xylotrya from 

 Sierra Leone which has some of its tubes furnished with two distinct 

 siphonal apertures, others in which the tubes are only partially 

 separated, and others with a simple aperture. 



The " Cloisonnaine de la Mediterranee" of M. Matheron (Annales 

 des Sciences et de 1' Industrie du Midi de la France, vols. I & 2), 

 quoted by Deshayes (Ann. Sci. Nat. xi. 245), is evidently a Teredo, 

 furnished with shelly valves and palettes, and not a Furcella. 



On a New Genus and several New Species of Uropel- 

 tidjE, in the Collection of the British Museum. By 

 Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., F.L.S., Pres. Ent. Soc. 



These animals, when first discovered, were arranged with Typhlops 

 by Schneider ; and afterwards Cuvier, who had previously regarded 

 them as belonging to that genus, formed for some of them a genus 

 under the name of Uropeltis. In the 'Catalogue of the Specimens of 

 Lizards in the Collection of the British Museum' (12mo, 1845), 

 I formed for them a family under the name of TJropeltidce, and di- 

 vided the species into three genera, each containing a single species. 

 1 lately described a fourth genus named Morina in the ■ Proceed- 

 ings ' of this Society (1858). 



Professor Johann Miiller, in an article on the " Osteology of Rep- 

 tiles M in Tiedemann's 'Zeitschrift fur Physiologic* for 1831 (vol. iv.), 

 gave an account of the osteology of the two genera Rhinophis and 

 Uropeltis. Schlegel in 1837 regarded them as a genus under the 

 name of Pseudotyphlops, and noticed three species. 



Instead of this family being characterized by the tail being " cylin- 

 drical, obliquely truncated above," it ought to be described as tail 

 cylindrical or compressed, covered with keeled scales, which are 

 separate or more or less united into a horny shield, — the scales on 

 the tip of the tail being always united and many-keeled. 



Having occasion to re-examine the various specimens which we 

 have received since the printing of the Catalogue above referred to, I 

 have found several additional species. 



The family may be divided into three groups, according to the 

 form of the tail. 



I. The tail obliquely truncated with ajlat superior disk. 



1. Siloboura. Disk oblong, covered with separate, two or four 

 keeled scales. 



2. Uropeltis. Disk circular, covered with a single tubercular 

 plate. 



