SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT OF THE SPECIES. 185 
REPTILIA: SERPENTES. 
Key to the Genera. 
a! Under side of body with small scales like the back . . . . . . . . . Typhlops, p. 185 
a? Under side of body with transverse plates. 
b! Plates beneath tail undivided. 
cl Anterior maxillary teeth greatly enlarged “Y-l4 & © /. > 5° 8 Epicrates, p. 186 
ce Anterior maxillary teeth not greatly elongate Jsa’o;. 4%) 2s 29 £Propidophis, p. 188 
b? Plates beneath tail in two series. 
c! Nostrilsdirected upward. . ....:... =... =. =. . Tretanorhinus, p. 192 
¢@ Nostrils lateral 
d? Scales with two apical pits. . ..... =... =. =. . Alsophis, p. 194 
d® Scales with none or only one apical pit. 
e! Eye very small, scaled always without apical pits . . . Arrhyton, p. 197 
e Eye larger, scales often withasingleapical pit. . . . . Leimadophis, p.195 
TYPHLOPIDAE. 
54. TYPHLOPS LUMBRICALIS (Linné). 
Plate 11, fig. 4, 5. 
Culebrita ciega; Vibora. 
Diagnosis: — A small burrowing snake (not to be confused with the 
Cuberita ciega, amphisbaenid lizards), with smooth nearly cylindrical body, 
covered with rounded imbricate scales almost alike above and below; the eye 
is hidden under a large shield but may show through as a black spot; it is often 
quite invisible. 
Description: — Adult M. C. Z. 10,855. Cuba: Havana Province; San 
Antonio de los Bafios, March, 1915. Thomas Barbour. 
Head depressed, snout projecting, rounded on the sides; nostrils just 
below the lateral edge; rostral between two and three sevenths of width of the 
head; nostril over the second supralabial suture; ocular with but. slightly 
convex anterior edge, in contact with third and fourth supralabials; supra- 
ocular, prefrontal, frontal, postoculars, and parietals scale-like and subequal; 
eye visible; twenty rows of scales around the body; about 367 scales on the 
midventral line from chin to vent, twelve scales on lower middle line of tail; 
tail ending in a spine. 
Colour (in life): — Dark gray-brown, each dorsal scale with a darker basal 
spot, scales of sides lighter unspotted. Lower surfaces yellowish white. 
