from Mossamedes, West Africa. 237 



It belongs to the Lacertia {Cosludontes pristiductyles of the 

 * Erpetologie Generale'). From its general organization it is in 

 the vicinity of the genera Acanthodadylus and Eremias, perhaps 

 between the two, that it should be placed ; but the flattening of 

 its head and the extraordinary widening of its muzzle give it a 

 peculiar physiognomy, and render it perfectly distinct from all 

 other Saurians in general. 



Generic characters. — Head wide and flattened ; muzzle much 

 depressed, wide, spatulate, with its trenchant margins greatly 

 exceeding the outline of the opening of the mouth (figs. 1 & 2). 



Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 



•--.i^:^ 



Tongue sagittate, emarginate at its extremity, covered with 

 squamifoi'm papillae. Palate not furnished with teeth. Nostrils 

 looking directly upward, placed in the midst of three shields, as 

 in Eremias. llostral shield much depressed, forming with the 

 first seven superior labials the projecting border of the muzzle. 

 No free autcpectoral fold. Ventral shields smooth, forming- 

 regular longitudinal and transverse bands. Tail broad and 

 depressed at the base, rounded throughout the rest of its extent. 

 No femoral pores. Five unequal digits on each foot ; these arc 

 compressed, covered with smooth scales beneath, and denticu- 

 lated at the edges. 



Pachyrhyncus Anchietce, sp. n. 



No occipital plate. Lower eyelid covered with granulations. 

 Auricular opening narrow, its anterior mai'gin smooth, without 

 denticulations. Nostrils bordered by three shields — one naso- 

 rostral and two freno-uasals. Nine superior labials, of which 

 the first seven form with the rostral the trenchant margin of the 

 nuizzle. One subocular shield, in contact by its lower margin 

 with the fifth, sixth, and seventh superior labials. Scales of the 

 back and base of the tail very small, smooth, slightly inflated, 

 not imbricated ; those of the rounded portion of the tail large, 

 imbricated, and keeled. Ventral shields quadrilateral, of mode- 

 rate size, nearly equal, arranged in from twenty to twenty-four 

 longitudinal rows, and bordered upon the flanks by several rows 

 of similar but smaller shields. Frteanal scales numerous, small, 

 nearly equal. 



