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Family. SCINCOIDEA. 



CHARACTERS. 



1. The head is covered above with large, thin, angular, corneous plates. 



2. The jaws are furnished with closely set teeth. 



3. The tongue is flat, free, and notched in front; not retractile in a sheath, and is 

 covered entirely or in part by squaniiform or filiform papillae. 



4. The neck is of the same size and form as the thorax. 



5. The body is cylindrical, without spines, or crest, or lateral groove, and covered 



with smooth scales, variable in form and size, and disposed in a quincunx. 



6. The extremities and tail are covered like the body. 



This family includes a great number of genera, differing from each other in the 

 form and disposition of the teeth; in the form and number of the cephalic plates; 

 in the mode of opening of the nostrils, whether in one or more plates; in the 

 presence or absence of eye-lids, whether they are single or not; in the presence 

 or absence of extremities, as to their number, &c. &c. Of this extensive family, 

 only three genera have as yet been observed in the United States — Plestiodon, 

 Scincus and Lygosoma. 



