HERPETOLOGY OF PORTO RICO. 

 List of specimens of Cyclura cornuta. 



675 



Genus AMPHISByENA" Linnaeus. 



1758. Amphisbsena Linnaeus, Syst. Nat, 10th ed., I, p. 229 (type A. fuliffinosa) . 



1843. Typhloblanus Fitzinger, Syst. Rept., p. 22 (type A. earn). 



1844. Sarea Gray, Cat. Tort. Brit. Mus., p. 71 (type A. cozca). 



1861. Diphalus Cope, Proc. Pliila. Acad., 1861, p. 75 (type D. fenestratus) . 



Fius. 127-128.— Shields on" head of Amphisb.ena. /. frontal; lb, supralabial; lib, first supralabial; 

 2H>, second supralabial; Sib, third supralabial; 211, second lower labial; m, mental; nail, malar; n, 

 nasal; o, ocular; oc, occipital; pf, prefrontal; pm, postmen tal; j^o,postocular; r, rostral; t, temporal. 



The AmphisbsBnians are legless, hence snakelike, lizards with the 

 eyes concealed under the skin of the head, hence blind, or nearly so. 

 The Spanish name, " Culebrita ciega" indicates the same. The animals 

 at first sight recall more a worm than a lizard, their flesh-colored tint 

 and arrangement of the skin in rings giving them the appearance of 

 large earthworms. 



Two species of Avvphisbcma occur in Porto Rico, which may be 

 distinguished as follows: 



a 1 . Body rings 220-230; suture between nasal shields very short, one-fifth <>r less of 

 the prefrontal suture; one temporal J. cozca, p. 676. 



a'-'. Body rings about 250; nasal suture long, more than one-third of the prefrontal 

 suture; no temporal A. bakeri, p. 681 



a d/Mpisfiaiva, a species of serpent supposed to be able to move both forward 

 and backward. 



