On the Earth- Snakes of India and Ceylon. 3 



what similar form from the Inferior Oolite of Dundry and 

 elsewhere. That species and its allies, R. hradfordiensis and 

 R. Crossi, are profusely covered with longer spines, which 

 appear to be a characteristic of age, as they are not so deve- 

 loped in young specimens. R. Doderleini therefore exhibits 

 an interesting survival of a form of shell-ornamentation 

 which formerly prevailed among the Palaiozoic Productidte, 

 Orthidffi, &c., and the Oolitic Spiriferida3 and Rhynchonellidje. 

 No spinose Brachiopoda are known from the Cretaceous or 

 Tertiary period, and the species now described is the first 

 example of the kind among living species of the group. 



I have named Rh. Ddderleini after its discoverer, Dr. L. 

 Doderlein, of the Natui'historisches Museum of Strassburg, 

 who kindly placed the specimens he dredged in Sagami Bay, 

 Japan, at my disposal for description and illustration. 



Thomas Davidson. 



II. — An Account of the Earth-Snnhes of the Peninsula of 

 India and Ceylon. By Colonel E,. H, Beddome, F.L.S. 



Uropeltidffi. 



Body cylindrical, with a small head, not distinct from the 

 neck ; eye very small or moderate. Cleft of the mouth of 

 moderate width ; teeth small in the maxillary and mandibu- 

 lar bones, none in the palate ; only one pair of frontals, four 

 upper labials ; a longitudinal fold at the chin only in Melano- 

 phidium ; tail very short, truncated, and terminating in a 

 rough shield, which is rounded, square and more or less bi- 

 cuspid, or flat with the caudal scales more or less keeled ; or 

 somewhat tapering, with a small terminal scute, which is 1-2- 

 pointed, or with a horizontal ridge, with the caudal scales 

 often quite smooth ; anal bifid. 



The species of this tribe are confined to the peninsula of 

 India and Ceylon and are peculiar to the mountainous dis- 

 tricts or to the heavy forests at the immediate foot of the 

 mountains ; their headquarters are the western ranges of 

 mountains from Canara to Cape Coraorin, only one species 

 having been found on the mountains of the east coast, and only 

 three north of the Kudra Mukh in South Canara, on the west 

 side ; some few only are widely distributed, others are exceed- 

 ingly local and appear to be very rare in their localities. 



They burrow into the ground, and are often dug up about 

 coffee- and tea-estates ; but they can always be collected by 



1* 



