858 Zoological Society. 



shield ; terminal plates of the bands and pelvic shield small ; hairs 

 few, white ; teeth jfEiS' the first upper one on each side being in the 

 intermaxillary bone. 



D. VILLOSXJS. 



Muzzle broad ; plates closely united, roughly tubercular, those of 

 the bands closely united and small ; bands eight ; a separate band on 

 the anterior edge of the scapular shield, behind the row of nuchal 

 plates ; terminal plates of the bands and pelvic shield large and fal- 

 cate ; hairs profuse, brown. 



D. MINXJTUS. 



Muzzle tapering, narrow at the end ; plates of the head smooth, 

 those of the shield and bands closely united, and flatly tubercular ; 

 terminal plates of the bands and pelvic shield large and falcate ; 

 bands six or seven ; a separate band on the anterior edge of the sca- 

 pular shield, behind the row of nuchal plates ; upper parts with black 

 hairs ; sides of the head and limbs with brownish hairs ; under parts 

 with whitish hairs ; teeth |^, none in the intermaxillary bones, nasal 

 and intermaxillary bones lengthened. 



Xenurus, Wagler. 



Head broad behind, ears wide apart, its plates irregular, smooth ; 

 those of the scapular shield irregular in the middle, hexagonal towards 

 the sides ; bands twelve, composed of short and square plates ; pelvic 

 shield with square plates in the middle, becoming hexagonal towards 

 the sides ; tail almost naked ; fore-feet with five toes, the index 

 longest, but very slender, the three outer toes rapidly diminishing in 

 length, but furnished with large claws, twisted outwards ; maxillary 

 bones articulated posteriorly by suture to the palatine, its malar pro- 

 cess thick, rounded anteriorly ; malar bone but slightly angular, its 

 zygomatic process extending beneath the zygoma; palatine bone 

 ascending into the orbit, and pushing up the sphenopalatine foramen 

 into a fossa which contains the foramina of the orbit ; pterygoid 

 bones with their hamular processes styliform, projecting backwards ; 

 zygoma small, rounded above ; tympanic incompletely ossified ; mas- 

 toid bone broad, placed obliquely ; lower jaw slender, its condyle 

 elevated, reniform ; coronoid process feebly developed, lower than the 

 condyle. 



X. UNICINCTUS. 



Cuvier mentions a species with a shorter and more entirely naked 

 tail ; it is probably the same that has been called nudicaudis by Dr. 

 Lund. X. antiquus of the same distinguished author may possibly 

 be identical. 



Priodontes, Frederick Cuvier. 



Head broad behind, ears wide apart ; plates of the head and body 

 as in Xenurus ; tail closely covered with quadrangular scaleSj placed 

 in a quincuncial arrangement ; fore-feet as in Xenurus, the outer toe 



