182 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. | Sepr. 
value. He states that the nostrils of S. pavimentatus are situated 
in the centre of a small nasal shield, but in his work on the 
Herpetology of Mexico be writes, “ naris im medio seutello site 
(scutellis duobus in unum coalitis)’ which would lead me to 
conclude that he doubted whether the character of a single nasal 
shield were a reliable and constant feature. At that time he divid- 
ed the genus into two small sub-divisions: one Section, A. contain- 
ing S. pavimentatus and S. rufescens, Merr., the latter of which he 
afterwards referred to Euprepes, and another Section B. in which he 
placed S. punctatus, Schneider, and which he also afterwards located 
in Huprepes. The characters of the first sub-division were these, 
‘* palpebra superior mediocris : inferior scutellato squamosa : dentes 
palatint numerosi.”” It is therefore to be understood that the 
scales of Humeces (#. pavimentatus) were smooth the nostril in a 
single plate resulting from the coalescence of two nasals, the in- 
ferior eyelid scaly, and that it had palatine teeth. 
In 1889, Dumeril and Bibron* do not appear to have been 
aware that Wiegmann had corrected his original mistake and 
had removed S. rufescens and S. punctatus from LHumeces, for they 
enter into an elaborate criticism of his arrangement of the 
genus in his Herpetology of Mexico. They regarded Wiegmann’s 
Eumeces as not founded on a sufficient basis and they therefore 
retained his name simply to apply it to the group represented 
by the type S. punctatus of Schneider, which has a transparent 
eyelid, a double fronto-parietal and a small unilobular ear. They, 
however, in the same volume described the genus Plestiodon 
which has all the characters of Wiegmann’s first section (4) of 
Eumeces as represented by Ewmeces pavimentatus, Geoff., which 
Professor Peters states is synonymous with Scincus Schneidert, 
Is. Geoff. St. Hilaire, Plestiodon Aldrovandi, D. and B., and Plestio- 
don cyprius, Cuv. Under these circumstances Plestiodon cannot 
stand, as Humeces has the prior claim to acceptance. 
Blyth’s Hurylepis has the palatine teeth and palate of Zumeces, 
as described by Wiegmann, and also the scaly eyelid and smooth 
scales. The nostril, however, is not in a single plate but is placed 
between an anterior and posterior nasal shield,and not as described 
* Herpet. Genl, vol. v. 
