CCECILIA OXYURA. 443 



is slightly fixed to the walls of the abdomen above the middle of the length of the urinary 

 bladder. I consider the middle portion of the cloaca as a copulatory organ, which after 

 copulation is retracted by the long muscle attached to it ; the bilobed prominences remind 

 us of a similar structure of the copulatory organs of many Saurians. 



The corpora adiposa (fig. 3) are large and numerous, and extend on each side along the 

 whole length of the abdominal cavity ; in some specimens I found them arranged in two 

 rows on each side, those of the outer series being of the usual appearance, whilst those in 

 the inner series are more regularly ovate and slightly compressed, with a coarsely granular 

 surface, like an ovary. The granules can easily be detached from the mass of the adipose 

 body ; they are globular, of from ^ to ^ of a line in diameter, and are composed of a mem- 

 branous coat, which is easily ruptured, and contains a fatty mass. 



Epicrium monochroum. 



Ichthyophis glutinosuSj var.. Cantor, Mai. Rept. p. 137. 



Epicrium monochrous, Blevk. Nat. Tydschr. Nederl. Ind. 1858, xvi. p. 188. 



This species is very similar to its congener, only differing in the following points : — tlie 

 head is shorter, the distance between the eyes being more than the length of the snout. 

 The inner series of mandibulary teeth is short, and composed of a few teeth only. There are 

 from 226 to 254 circular folds extending entirely round the body, except on the foremost 

 part of the trunk; each fold forms an angle on the belly, the point of which is directed 

 backwards. The whole body is uniform blackish brown, without lateral band. 



I have examined only two examples of this species: the one from Singapore, and type of 

 Cantor's description ; the other from Sinkawang (Western Borneo), the type of the species, 

 and sent by Dr. Bleeker to the British Museum. They are of nearly equal length (9| inches), 

 the circumference of the body being 1^ inch. 



CCECILIA, JVagl. 

 A. small round groove below each nostril. 



The species belonging to this genus are either South American or African. Dumeril 

 describes one from the East Indies, which I have never seen. 



CffiCILIA OXYURA. 



Coacilia oxyura, Dum. &; Bibr. \\\\. p. 280. 



Body short, moderately thick, its diameter being one twenty-fifth of the total length ; it 

 terminates in a pointed tail, which is somewhat prolonged beyond the vent. The subnasal 

 grooves are vertically below the nostrils. The body is surrounded by 180 folds, the thirty 

 last of which are completely annular, whilst the others do not extend across the vent, and 

 are alternately longer and shorter. Uniform light-olive-coloured. 



This species is said to be from the coast of Malabar, and about 12 inches long. 



