186 THE HERPETOLOGY OF CUBA. 



Dimensions: — Total length 182 mm. 



Vent to tip of tail 5 mm. 



Diameter of body 7 mm. 



The common Antillean blind snake is one of the most widely if not the 

 most widely distributed reptile of the whole West Indian area. It has been 

 found upon the South American mainland and upon Jamaica, Haiti, Mona, 

 Porto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Dominica, 

 Martinique, as well as upon several of the Bahamas and Cuba. 



In Cuba it is abundant and widely distributed. Living entirely in sub- 

 terranean burrows it is but rarely seen except when perhaps a heavy rain has 

 forced its unwilUng appearance on the surface of the ground. It may be found 

 readily by follo^\^ng a plough or by digging in gardens or turning over logs and 

 stones. It is found in the high mountains equally abundant as in the lowlands 

 and in both wild and cultivated terrains. It is widely feared by the peasants, 

 beiag supposedly poisonous, a senseless notion perhaps arising from the caudal 

 spine looking a bit like a sting. The Cuban Guajiro knows the scorpions only 

 too well and probably fears all tails bearing apparent stings. 



BOIDAE. 



55. Epicrates angulifer Bibron. 



Plate 16, fig. 3. 



Majd de Santa Maria. 



Diagnosis: — A very large constricting serpent, aggressive when disturbed. 

 The body covered by many rows of small scales, the hps with rudiments of a 

 series of pits. The colour iridescent brown with dorsal rhombs of darker, and 

 with lateral ocelh having yellowish centres. 



Description: — Young M. C. Z. 960 Loc? 



Judging from its date of receipt and character of label this specimen was 

 received by Prof. Louis Agassiz from Prof. A. Aug. Dumeril of Paris and is 

 probably one of the types of the species. Dumeril spoke of sending only 

 "types" to Agassiz — but "types" as the word was then used did not, to be 

 sure, invariably refer to "types" in the sense of present usage. 



Head with somewhat irregular, pavement-like scales; a pair of large pre- 

 frontals are conspicuous, a rosette of seven scales, one central and six peripheral 

 upon the frontal region, a supraocular both separated from the supralabials 



