512 KECORD OF SCIENCE FOR 1886. 



are chiefly known as earth snakes ; the scientific name is Uropelticlse. 

 They are almost worm-like in appearance and have a cylindrical body 

 and a small head not distinct from the neck, small eyes, and the cleft of 

 the mouth is of moderate width or much more restricted than in ordi- 

 nary snakes. The tail is very short and truncated and terminates in "a 

 rough shield, which is rounded, square, and more or less bicuspid, or 

 flat with the caudal scales more or less keeled, or somewhat tapering, 

 with a small terminal scute, which is 1 — 2 pointed, or with a horizontal 

 ridge." It is in allusion to this terminal shield that the name Uropel- 

 tidaB owes its origin. The species of the family have their headquarters 

 in "the western ranges of mountains from the Canara to Cape Comorin, 

 only one species having been found on the mountains of the east coast, 

 and only three north of the Kudra Mukh in South Canara, on the west 

 side; some few only are widely distributed, others are exceedingly local 

 and appear to be very rare in their localities." The species are further 

 " peculiar to the mountainous districts or to the heavy forests at the 

 immediate foot of the mountains." In such places, "they burrow into 

 the ground, and are often dug up about coftee and tea estates ; but they 

 can always be collected by turning over logs and large stones in the 

 forest, and even on the grass land at high elevation, and during the 

 rainy season they are not unfrequenfly found along the roads. They 

 are generally of small size (about 1 foot long) with a girth of scarcely 

 an inch." The greatest length as yet known was reached by a Silybura, 

 and was 24 inches. The maximum girth (3 inches) was realized in an- 

 other species of the genus Uropeltis. "They never attempt to bite, how- 

 ever much they may be handled or teased ; they will at once twine them- 

 selves tightly round a stick, and can be carried along without their at- 

 tempting to escape. They are all ovoviviparous; they live almost en^ 

 tirely upon earth worms." The various species have been collected and 

 comparatively studied by Col. K. H. Beddome, and he recognizes seven 

 generic types and thirty-nine species ; of these most have the tail trun- 

 cated, but in several it tapers backwards. The genera are chiefly marked 

 by peculiarities of the caudal or terminal shields. Nineteen of the spe- 

 cies belong to one genus (Silybura), while only one is recognized of the 

 typical genus (Uropeltis). (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (5), xvii, pp. 

 3-33.) 



Birds. 



The cubital coverts of birds. — Along the preaxillary portions of the 

 wings of birds, or close by the bones of the arm, are develoi)ed small 

 feathers more or less imbricated, known as cubital coverts. " A refer- 

 ence to the wing of the Golden Plover, a central type, and one that 

 in itself represents all the leading modifications," says Mr. Goodchild, 

 " may help to make the nomenclature" used by him the "more intel- 

 ligible." The " terms used referred mainly to the relations of various 

 parts of the wings to each other and to the body axis, when the wing is 



