CROCODILIANS, LIZARDS, AND SNAKES. 491 



liorly, and is recurved at tlie anterior apex, to c.outiniie as tiie slender 

 procoracoid cartilage. 



Pelvic arch. — Three elements (used into one, as in the preceding 

 genera, the distal elements forming a suboval plate; the ilium a short, 

 curved rod, articulating proximally with a siugle robust diapophysis of 

 a single vetebra. The whole structure is entirely lateral. 



Ohservations. — Dumeril and lUbron commit an erroj- in their figure of 

 the Anguis fragilis, in representing the pelvic elements as meeting on 

 the middle line below, which is far from being the case. Fiirbringer's 

 figures are much more accurate. 



Opiieodes striatus iSpix. Partially described by Miiller,' imperfectly 

 figured by Dumeril and Bibron,*^ and well described and ligured by 

 Fiirbringer.-' South America. 



Scapular and pelvic arches present; no anterior limbs; posterior 

 limbs present, rudimental. 



Scapular arch. — All the elements present; clavicles well developed; 

 distally simple. Interclavicle aj>proximated to them, anchor-shaped, 

 with very short posterior axis, which is widely separated from the 

 sternum. Scapula, coracoid, and precoraeoid, osseous, confluent; no 

 coracoid cartilage. Precoraeoid cartilage a slender rod, wedged be- 

 tween the interclavicle and the clavicle. Sternum subtriangular, with 

 shallow anterior notch, supporting two haemal ribs on each side. 



Pelvic arch. — All the elements present, the pubis and ischium not in 

 contact on the median line. Ilium articulating below its middle with 

 the confluent diapophyses of two vertebrje. Pubis about as long as 

 ilium, the distal half rodlike, and separated from its fellow by a space 

 equal to its length. It termimites in a short cartilaginous rod, which 

 is directed forward ( ? epigastroid cartilage). The ischium is trans- 

 verse in position, and somewhat expanded distally, sending forward a 

 membranous sheet to the pubis. Posteriorly it gives origin to a car- 

 tilaginous rod (liypogastroid) which speedily joins its fellow, and con- 

 tinues with it as a double median cartilage, terminating acutely. This 

 cartilage resembles that already described in Pygopus, where, how- 

 ever, the two do not meet on the middle line. 



Posterior limb. — This is a little longer than the ilium. It consists of 

 femur, tibia and fibula about two-thirds as long, and tarsal and meta- 

 tarsal elements, all closely adherent. The former are three in number 

 and the latter two. 



Observations. — In the figure by Dumeril and Bibron of the scapular 

 arch the precoraeoid is omitted. The pelvis has been drawn from a 

 dried specimen where the inferior arches have been divided and the 

 lateral elements widely separated. The cartilages are not represented. 



I)o2)asia gracilis Grny. From the Himalayas. Not previously studied. 

 Scapular and pelvic arches present; no limbs. 



' Zeitschr. f. Physiol., IV, 1831. 3 Knocken and Mnskeln, pp. 11, 38. 



*Erp6tologie Gonorale, Atlas, 1854, pi. vii, figs. 3-7. 



