710 NEW BLIND-?;NAKES FRO^r AFRICA STE.INEGER. 



edge of tlie oeular represents what is ordinarily the I'ourth suprahibial, 

 its anterior point, howe^-er, barely reaching the lip; prefrontal and 

 frontal subecinal, wider tliau long; siibociilar and parietal subequal, 

 wider than long, somewhat wider than frontal; one mental; two sub- 

 labials; diameter of body at the middle 67 times in the total length, 

 the body growing thicker i)osteriorly ; tail very short, Avider than long, 

 ending in a short spine; li4 to 20 scales round the middle of the body. 

 Uniform, pale brownish gray, scarcely paler below. Total length 340 

 millimeters. 



Remar1x-s. — This very distinct species seems to be quite unique in the 

 way in which the facial shields border the upper lip. The rostral, as 

 described above, forms the anterioi' border as usual, but instead of this 

 consisting of a narrow scjuare i)roJection backwards, the lower free 

 border of the rostral is distinctly concave forward. The posterior pro- 

 jection, however, can be detected under the microscope as a separate 

 small scale inside the mouth back of the rostral, separating the two 

 exceedingly small but elongated anterior supralabials from each other 

 by barely discernible sutures, while the suture separating it from the 

 rostral is very distinct. The next peculiarity of the upper labial border 

 consists in the absence of the third supralabial, in place of which the 

 lower end of the ocular reaches the lip, while the fourth (in this case 

 third separate) labial is forced backward. Another rather uncommon 

 feature is the exclusion of the preocular from the supralabials, the pos- 

 terior nasal and the ocular being broadly in contact below it. The 

 snout from below, therefore, superficially somewhat resembles that of 

 one of the Leptotijphlopidae. The nostrils are placed uncommonly close 

 to the rostral, being situated almost at the junction of the cutting edge 

 with the rostral and internasal sutures. 



Altogether this is a very remarkable form which seems to have no 

 particularly close relationship to any of the hitherto known species. 



