TYPHLINA LINEATA. 171 



TYPHLINA, JFagler. 



Snout covered with large shields ; rostral shield large, rounded in front ; 

 praeocular none ; nostril inferior ; nasal and fronto-nasal simple. Lower 

 jaw without teeth. 



Only one species is known. 



Typhlina LINEATA. (Plate XVI. fig. B.) 



Typhlops lineatus, Boie, Isis, 1827, p. 563. Schleg. Abbild. p. 39. taf. 32. figs. 32-34 (incorrect). 

 Pilidion lineatum, Dum. ^ Bibr. vi. p. 259. 

 Typhlinalis lineatum, Gray, Lizards, p. 134. 



Shields of the snout thick, horny ; eyes scarcely visible. Rostral shield large, more than 

 half as broad as the head, its lower portion being broader than long. Nostril inferior ; nasal 

 small, united with the fronto-nasal above the nostril; fronto-nasal large, as broad as the 

 lower portion of the rostral shield, extending to behind the rostral, but remaming separate 

 from the fronto-nasal of the other side. Ocular not quite so broad as the fronto-nasal. 

 Labials four, none of which ascend between the lateral shields of the head: the first in 

 contact with rostral, nasal, and fronto-nasal, the second with fronto-nasal and ocular, the 

 third with ocular alone, and the fourth with a temporal shield ; the third is larger than the 

 fourth. The prsefrontal and the supraoculars are rather larger than the parietals, the frontal 

 and interparietal being considerably smaller, scarcely larger than the other scales. 



The hind part of the body is rather thicker than the front part, more so in females than 

 in males ; its circumference in its middle is one-fom'teenth of the total length. Tail very 

 short, slightly curved, terminating in a minute spine ; its length equals the width of the 

 head. Body surrounded by twenty-two longitudinal series of scales. I count 405 transverse 

 series (about 430, Dum. & Bibr.); eight series round the tail. 



Reddish olive above, vnth brown lines running along the joining edges of the longitudinal 

 series of scales ; these lines are either straight or in a short zigzag. Snout and belly yellow ; 

 tail either uniform yellow or with a yellow band across its back. 



This species is known from Java, Sumatra, and Pinang. We have received also a specimen 

 from Hongkong. It attains to a length of 18 inches. 



Three different views of the head are given on Plate XVI., of twice the natural size. 



z2 



