92 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



with the curvatures directed forward; gular fold strong, very concave 

 anteriorly; color uniform pale. 



Head wide, much wider than neck, very depressed and flat on top, 

 with no canthus rostralis; snout rather swollen, truncate; nostrils 

 very small; eyes small, only slightly raised, and covered by the con- 

 tinuous skin of the head with only a shallow groove to indicate the 

 opening between the lids, the underlying eyes only visible as two ill- 

 defined dusky spots. Body somewhat depressed, measuring thrice and a 

 third the distance from snout to gular fold; limbs short, about five 

 costal interspaces apart when laid against the body; fingers rather 

 short, especially the first, nearly free; length, beginning with shortest, 

 1-4-2-3; number of phalanges 1-2-3-2; toes rather short, first almost 

 rudimentary, nearly half-webbed; length, beginning with the shortest, 

 1-2-5-4-3, second and fifth, and fourth and third being nearly equal; 

 number of phalanges 1-2-3-3-2. Tail considerably shorter than head 

 and body, subcylindrical at base and somewhat squarish, more com- 

 pressed towards the tip, rounded above, faintly keeled below; skin 

 minutely granulate; gular fold strong, very concave anteriorly and 

 uniting on the sides of the neck with a horizontal groove running 

 from the eye backwards. Sixteen costal grooves, or eighteen, if count- 

 ing the axillar and groin grooves, crossed on the sides by a strong 

 horizontal groove between axilla and groin. 



Maxillar and mandibular teeth small, numerous, normal; vomerine 

 teeth not extending outside of the choanae, forming two V-shaped, 

 strongly curved series with the points directed forward, the external 

 branches straight, the internal ones curved inward and well separated; 

 parasphenoid patches long, rather narrow, well separated, their dis- 

 tance being nearly equal to their width, and well separated from the 

 vomerines; teeth small, in numerous rows. Tongue rather large, 

 attached anteriorly and along the median line for a trifle more than 

 the anterior half, extensively free laterally and posteriorly. (Stej- 

 neger.) 



Color. — Uniform cream yellow in alcohol; in life pale. 



Size. — From snout to vent 60 mm.; from vent to end of tail 60 

 mm. Total length 120 mm. 



Habitat. — Bockhouse Cave, Barry Co., Marble Cave, 

 Stone Co., and Doris Cave, Wright Co., Missouri. 



Habits. — The discoverer of this species, F. A. Sampson, 

 of Sedalia, Mo., sent the first specimens — an adult and 

 some larvae — to the Smithsonian Institution. He caught 

 them in July, 1891, in Kockhouse Cave, near Cassville, 

 Barry Co., Mo. He informed Dr. Stejneger, Curator of 

 Eeptiles of the National Museum, that the animals were 



