182 THE HERPETOLOGY OF CUBA. 



Cadca hlanoides is rare in Cuba, far more so than is Aynphisbaena cuhana. 

 The only specimens which we have seen are from the west, Herradura, Guan- 

 ajay, and San Diego de los Bauos, and we believe that it does not occm* east of 

 Havana. It is a very beautiful species in life. The few specimens obtained 

 were dug from the soil in preparing gardens for vegetable planting. 



The remarkable species Cadea palirostrata Dickerson is known only from 

 the Island of Pines. It is interesting in that the head is flattened in a vertical 

 plane to aid in burrowing. Although Cadea hlanoides is as yet unknown from 

 the Island of Pines and although the fauna of the Island is entirely made up of 

 the identical, or more or less shghtly modified, representatives of Cuban species, 

 it seems hardly possible that this form can be the local homologue of C. hlanoides; 

 it is so much more differentiated than any other of the Island of Pines repre- 

 sentatives of Cuban species. Cadea palirostrata may possibly be quite imre- 

 lated to C. hlanoides, and in that case it may surely be looked for in Cuba as 

 hlanoides may be in the Island of Pines. Four specimens, one now M. C. Z., 

 were collected at San Pedro, Island of Pines, by Charles S. Meade in 1911. To 

 aid in recognizing this species, the following extract from the original description 

 is added : — 



" Mouth inferior, muzzle extending bej'ond it a distance equal to the length of tlie nasal. 

 Muzzle long and pointed. Head compressed with spadelike ridge extending dorsally from 

 occipitals forward, and ventrally the length of the mental. Rostral large, compressed and 

 extending in a conspicuously convex band forward and upward over the end of tlie muzzle, 

 and backward to an angular suture with the praefrontal — thus adding to the adaptability 

 of the head for digging. Praefrontal lelatively large, its width little less than its length, 

 compressed and folded over the dorsal ridge of the muzzle, indented anteriorly by the entrance 

 of the rostral, and posteriorly by the two frontals. The latter equal in length to the prae- 

 frontal, widest In the middle. Frontals followed by a pair of subquadrilaterfil occipitals. 

 Eye visible under the anterior angle of the ocular. Nostril pierced in the middle of the 

 anterior end of the nasal. Supraocular very elongate, forming sutures with nasal, prae- 

 frontal and frontals, second labial, ocular and parietals. Three upper labials subeciual, 

 although of greatly varying shape; first slightly smallest, second slightly largest. Mental 

 subquadrilateral with short winglike extensions anteriorly, and in the midline anteriorly' 

 compressed into a short downward-projecting wedge; chin shield nearly twice as long as 

 mental, broadest near the anterior end; three lower labials, the first small, the second very 

 large, twice as large as the second upper labial. Annuli, dorsal, 329; ventral, 286. Annuh 

 on the tail, dorsal 21 ; ventral, 16. Annulus on the middle of the body contains 39 segments. 

 Dorsal segments narrow, oval; ventral, slightly broader than long, sciuare-angled. No 

 lateral line. Anal segments, 10; praeanal pores, 10. General coloring brownish, darkest on 

 head, lightest ventrally — each segment with one or more irregular brown blotches, varying 

 in position on the segments. 



" Typi': Length to vent, 280 mm.; tail, 15." Dickerson, Bull. Amer. mus. nat. hist., 

 1916, 35, p. 6.59. 



