Cope.] ■^1^ [March 18, 



foramina. No epipterj'goid. Nareal fissure overhung by the free edge 

 of the maxillary and palatine bones. Sphenoid and basioccipital and ex- 

 occipital coijssified. Occipital condyle convex and perfectly simple. 



The mandible has an open Meckelian groove, and the surangular and 

 articular bones are coossilied, while the angular and spleniitl bones are dis- 

 tinct. The latter extends well anteriorly. The coronoid extends a little 

 forwards on the exterior face of the ramus, and in both directions on the 

 inner face. 



The hyoid apparatus is the most simple among lizards. It consists of a 

 continuous cartilaginous glossobasihyal rod, which is bifurcated poste- 

 riorly ; and a simple osseous first branchihyal, attached to each of the 

 branches. Other elements wanting. 



Ten cervical vertebrsB with compressed inferior processes of the centra 

 or hypapophyses. They are coossified with the centra, and are not inter- 

 central in position, hence it is not evident that they are iatercentra. 

 No zygosphen. In the Anniella pulehra there are seventy-three rib-bear- 

 ing vertebrae, and two cervicals without ribs. The sacral and proximal 

 caudal vertebrae have diapophyses, those of the former little difierent from 

 those of the latter. The fifth vertebra with a diapophysis supports a pair 

 of parallel plates coossified with its inferior face like the chevron or 

 double hypapophysis of a snake. In the succeeding vertebrae similar 

 plates form the basis of a chevron, whose symphysis is turned rather ab- 

 ruptly posteriorly. The position of these chevrons is central and not 

 intercentral. Caudal vertebrae not segmented. 



Scapular elements and fore limb wanting. Pelvic arch represented by a 

 pair of slender simple bones which lie near the extremities of the last ribs, 

 one on each side of the vent. They are slightly curved, and are well 

 separated in front. They are very similar to the bones which occupy the 

 same position in the Amphisbisnidae, and are probably the iliopectineal 

 bones of Fiirbringer. Teeth simple, acutely conic. 



The affinities of the Anniellidae, as indicated by the above description, 

 are interesting. When I first, in 1864,* pointed out the cranial peculiari- 

 ties of the genus Anniella, I created for it a distinct family, which I asso- 

 ciated with the Acontiidae and Auelytropsidae. Subsequently, in 1887,t 

 I proposed for it a still more independent position, making it the type of 

 a special superfamily, which I called the Anguisauri ; a course which had 

 been already adopted by Gill a short time previously ,+ who proposed for 

 it the superfamily of the Annielloidea. The further knowledge of its 

 structure above recorded brings out more clearly its true position. This 

 is, I think, in the Annulati or Amphisbaenia. The characters which 

 indicate this reference are : (1) The continuity of the parietal with the 

 petrosal and supraoccipital elements. (3) The absence of epipterygoid. 

 (3) The absence of ceratohyal elements. (4) The hypopophyses of the 



♦Proceedings Academy Philada., 1864, p. 230. 

 ■f Bullet. U. 8. Natl. Museum No. 32, p. 25, 1SS7. 

 X Smithsonian Report, ISSii, The Progress of Zoology for 1885, p. 40. 



