1917-] ^- Annandale : A new Limbless Skink. 19 



House-Crow {Corvus splendens) and the Jungle-Crow (C. macrorhyn- 

 chus). Both of these fl}^ over from the mainland in large numbers 

 every evening to roost on the island, and a few individuals of 

 both also spend the day there when the fruit of the Banyan, to 

 which they are very partial, is ripe. The common Green Pigeon 

 {Crocopus chlorogaster) is also common, and flocks of the Grey 

 Hornbill {Lophoceros griseus) are often to be seen or heard. 



The most noteworthy features among the Arthropoda are the 

 small number of species represented, the absence of large or con- 

 spicuous forms (except among the Lepidoptera and Odonata) and 

 the large proportion of predaceous species. 



Perhaps the most interesting element in the fauna is that 

 associated with the tig-trees and in particular with the Banyan. 

 Apart from the species that feed on its fruit and leaves, which do 

 not seem to be numerous^ these animals live mostly either in dead 

 wood or in the earth. The great horizontal branches of the 

 Banyan are supported on vertical trunks that originate from them 

 in the form of aerial roots, so reach the soil and then grow 

 stout and trunk-like. These supports frequently rot away and then 

 the branches fall in ruins on the ground. The fauna of their dead 

 wood is comparatively poor, entirely lacking the Lamellicorn 

 beetles found in dead wood in damper district^, but includes 

 interesting beetles of the family Tenebrionidae, and species of the 

 orders Thysanura and CoUembola, as well as a considerable number 

 of wood lice. The main trunks of the Banyan and also those of 

 Rumphius's Fig are strengthened at their base by stout buttresses 

 that project in such a way as to form pockets or recesses filled 

 with loose soil. In these pockets flourishes a fauna rich in burrow- 

 ing forms, many of which are predaceous. It includes a number of 

 trap-door spiders (Mygalomorphae), several Myriapoda (among the 

 most interesting of which is perhaps the curious little Scolopendrid 

 centipede Pseudocry plops agharkari. Gravely') and the only terres- 

 trial earthworm'' yet found on the island. It also includes the 

 peculiar lizard which it is the main object of this paper to describe 

 and two {Typhlops acutus and T. diardi) of the four snakes found 

 upon the island. 



Family SCINCIDAE 



Genus Barkudia, nov. 



The palatine bones do not meet in the median line of the 

 palate, which is toothless. The teeth are conical. The eye is 

 very small and surrounded by relatively large scales ; the lovyer 

 eye-lid is scaly, the upper eye-lid not developed. The ear-opening 



• Rec. Ind. Mus., VII, pp. 416-417 (1912). Dr. Gravely tells me that speci- 

 mens from Barkuda represent the race {singbhiimensis) he described from Chola 

 Nagpur. 



* Stephenson, Rec. Ind. Mus., XII, pp. 340-34I. pl- >^^'^"'- fig^- 32, 33 (iQio)- 

 Three aquatic species are found on the shore (see Stephenson, Mem. Ind. Mus.. 

 V, pt. i, pp. 139-146, pl. X (1015). and V, pt. 6 (hied.). 



