APPENDIX. 



Page 176. Typhlops tenuis. 



The specific name, being preoccupied by a species from Guatemala, is to be altered into that of 

 T. pammeces. 



Page 236. 



Rciuhardt has just made a very interesting addition to our knowledge of Indian serpents in describing 

 a species with an apparatus of gular teeth similar to that of the Afi-ican Dusypeltis. The latter feeds on 

 eggs of birds. The teeth in the jaws being extremely feeble and few in number, each of the hinder cervical 

 vertelira; has au elongated inferior process, penetrating the walls of the oesophagus, and covered witli 

 enamel. The eggs in passing along this series of processes are broken, and having arrived so far down- 

 wards in the gullet that the mouth can be closed, none of the couteats are lost. 



There are other snakes which, although feeding on eggs, have no gular teeth : several species of Tropi- 

 donotm devour the eggs of other reptiles, and in the stomach of Dipsas irregularis I have found perfect 

 eggs of xpaiTots. 



It is possible that the processes on the base of the skull of Nymphophidium (p. 235) have to perform a 

 function similar to that performed by the gular teeth of Dasypeltis and Elachistodon. Reinhardt places 

 both the latter genera in one family ; but it appears to me that Elachistodon is entitled to fonn a separate 

 group of Colubrides. 



Elachistodon westermanni (Reinh. Vid. Selsk. Forhandl. Kjcibenh. 1863, December). 



Teeth in the jaws and on the palate minute, few in number ; maxillary with one or two small grooved 

 teeth behind. Gular and oesophageal teeth formed by the inferior spinous processes of the vertebrse. Body 

 and tail of moderate length ; head scarcely distinct from neck. Scales smooth, in fifteen rows, those of 

 the verteljral series being somewhat larger than the others, hexagonal. Eye of moderate size, with round 

 pupil. Shields of the head normal: vertical broad, six-sided, with the lateral margins much convergent, 

 and with an obtuse angle in front and behind. Nostril between two nasals ; loreal oblong, entering the 

 orbit ; a small prseocular alDove the loreal, not reaching to the upper surface of the head. Two postoculars. 

 Seven upper labials, the third and fourth of which enter the orbit. Temporals two, elongate, both in 

 contact with the postoculars. Veutrals 217; anal entire; 59 pairs of subcaudals. Brown above, with a 

 yellowish vertebral stripe; a yellowish band commences on the snout and runs along each side of the 

 upper surface of the head to the temporals and the angle of the mouth ; an angular yellowish cross band 

 on the neck ; lower parts yellowish. 



The only specimen known was obtained at Rungpore ; it is an adult female, with seven elongate eggs in 

 the oviduct; it is 31 inches long, the tail measming 4i inches. 



