HERPETOLOGY OF JAPAN, 



259 



ilia. In counting the teeth the second mner row of loose teeth which 

 are only the reserve teeth must not be taken into consideration. If 

 the specimen is so hardened that it is difficult to open the mouth it 

 should not be forced open by prjong, a procedure apt to ruin the 

 teeth and break the lower jaw, but the thick muscle at the corner of 

 the mouth closing the jaws should be cut tlu-ough on both sides. If 

 properly done the specimen need show no outward sign of mutilation. 

 The maxilla after being dissected out and cleaned should be placed in 

 a small glass tube or vial and, provided with the same number as the 

 snake, kept in the same bottle, or separately together with other 

 preparations of the same kind. 



The apical scale pits are usually distinctly visible under a fairly 

 good magnifying glass. In some cases, however, they are rather 

 difficult to discern, thus, for instance, in EJaphe rufodorsata. When 

 the pits are not discovered at once the skin should be allowed to dry 

 and then viewed at different angles to the light. The epidermis of 



Figs. 229-231.— Head-shields of typhlops. /, frontal; ip, interparietal; /, supralabials; n, 

 nasal; 0, ocular; p, p.^rietals; pf, prefrontal; pro, preocular; pto, postocular; r, rostral; 

 so, supraocular. 



scales of different parts of the body should be examined. In very 

 doubtful cases it may even become necessary to remove some of the 

 epidermis and examine it under a more powerful lens.« 



Family TYPHLOPID.E. 



The blind-snakes are small cylindric snakes of even thickness, head 

 and tail not distinct, the latter extremely short and terminating sud- 

 denly. The body is covered with smooth scales somewhat resembling 

 fish scales, above and below, and the eye is only dimly visible under 

 the semitransparent head shields. They are very worm-like in appear- 

 ance and burrow in the ground. 



The family is distributed over the warmer portions of both hemi- 

 spheres. Only one genus is represented in our territory. 



" For the nomenclature of head shiekls of Typhlopid snakes, see figs. 229-231 on 

 the present page, and for that of the Natricid snakes, figs. 236-238, on page 262. 



