118 PLESTIODON ERYTHROCEPHALUS. 



elongated scales. The frontal plates are pentagonal; the anterior frontal arc 

 smaller and rhomboidal; placed in between the frontal and anterior frontal is a 

 large hexagonal, centro-frontal plate, reaching to a plate behind the nares. The 

 rostral plate is triangular, smaller, and rounded in front and somewhat pointed 

 above. The nasal plate is single, and rhomboidal in shape; between this and the 

 orbital are three loral plates, the smallest in front, the largest behind. There are 

 three anterior orbital plates, the middle one of which is the largest; and two 

 posterior, the lower being the smaller. The lower margin of the orbit is com- 

 pleted by the sixth and seventh labial plates, of which there are eight; the 

 posterior very large. Between the seventh and eighth labial plates, and the 

 posterior occipital, are three large temporal plates arranged in a triangle, of 

 which the anterior is the smallest. 



The nostrils are large, latero-superior near the snout, and open upwards and 

 outwards. The eye is small, the iris dark, the pupil darkest grey. Both eye-lids 

 are covered with small scales. The entrance to the ear is small, elliptico-oval, 

 and surrounded by small scales. The neck is not contracted, but appears so 

 from the great development of the temporal region of the head. 



The body is elongated, rounded, and covered with smooth imbricated scales, 

 arranged in longitudinal rows, both above and below, with two or three large 

 scales in front of the vent. The tail is thick at the root, nearly the size of the 

 body, but soon becomes small, cylindrical, and greatly elongated; it is covered 

 with imbricated scales above, like the back; but below there is a central series 

 resembhng plates, with scales on either side to about one-third of the distance, 

 when the scales disappear, and the plates are continued, as in some of the serpent 

 tribe. 



The anterior extremities, as well as the posterior, are short, thick, and strong; 

 the former terminating in five fingers, the latter in five toes, very delicate, and 

 covered with scales to the root of the nails, all of which are armed with short, 

 small, curved nails. 



