670 REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898, 



the presplienoidal vacuity and cousequently the iuterorbital septum, 

 and the boues wliicb coustitute the brain case firmly united; a colu- 

 melJa crauii, no supratemporal ; postorbital arch ligamentous, ptery- 

 goids not in contact with sphenoid; a palatine foramen; premaxlllary 

 single; nasal and frontal divided ; parietal single; preorbital and post- 

 orbital in contact, separating the frontal from the border of the orbit. 



The viscera display the following characters in the genus Anniella: 

 The left lung is much smaller than the right lung, and is proximally 

 fused with it so that there is but a single lumen. Right lung much 

 enlarged and covering the alimentary canal below (ventrad). Liver 

 considerably posterior to heart, long and narrow, with a small left lobe 

 and a long right lobe extending to the reproductive cells. Gall blad- 

 der inclosed by the liver and exposed interiorly, that is, occupying a 

 foramen, as in the Diploglossa. Alimentary canal distinguished into 

 stomach, and small and large intestine, without distinct colon. 

 Stoniach without curvature; small intestine moderately plicated, with 

 lacertiform mesentery. Reproductive cells anterior, symmetrical; kid- 

 neys symmetrical, j)osterior. There is a single gastrohepatic mesentery 

 from the middle line of the liver, and no right hepatic or lateral 

 hepatics. Hepatoventral simple; plates of epigastric very loosely 

 attached together. No pulmonaries at middle of liver. 



The fusion of the lungs is a peculiarity that I have not noticed else- 

 where among the Sauria. The left lung is like a diverticulum of the 

 right, and posterior to the point of divergence from the latter is bound 

 to it by connective tissue to the extremity. This fusion is a step nearer 

 to obliteration than occurs in any of the serpentiform genera of Teii- 

 da^, Scincida?, or Anguidie, where, though of reduced size, it is distinct 

 from the right except at its proximal extremity. 



The aftiuities of the Anniellidte, as indicated by the osteology, 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 

 associated with the Acontiid^e and Anelytropsidie. Subsequently, in 

 1887,2 1 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 

 X)roposed for it the suj^erfamily of the Annielloidea. The further knowl- 

 edge of its structure above recorded brings out more clearly its true 

 position which I gave it in 1892.^ This is, I think, in the Aunulati or 

 Amphisbfenia. The characters which indicate this reference are: (1) 

 The continuity of the parietal with the petrosal and supraoccipital 

 elements. (2) The absence of ceratohyal elements. (3) The hypo- 

 pophyses of the cervical vertebrae which are continuous with the centra. 



' Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1864, p. 230. 



- Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 32, 1887, p. 25. 



' SmitLsouian Report, 1885, 1886, Progress of Zoology for 1885, p. 40. 



* Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc, p. 216. 



