740 AFRICAN Ki:i'TILKS AND 1?ATUA(JIIIANS STE.INEGEH. 



Ih'scrijdioii of type specimen. — Teeth small, siibetiual in each .jav\', the 

 mandibulars larger than the niaxillaries, the palatines very small; 

 number of teeth on one side: Maxillary, about M); mandibulars, outer 

 row, about 25, inner row, 5j snout rounded, pnmiinent, shorter than 

 width of head across the eyes; eyes very indistinet; tentacle near the 

 border of the lii»s eiiiiidistant from eye and nostril; body depressed, 

 with a shallow longitudinal groove on each side of the back and one 

 along the ventral median line; 175 folds, of whieh the posterior 40 are 

 continuous across both the (h>rsal and the ventral lines, while the pos- 

 terior 8(» are also continuous on the dorsal line; anterior to the 10 below 

 aud the 80 above complete primarj^ rings alternate with in<!omplete 

 folds, the latter d«'creasing in length toward the head, tliough clearly 

 .traceable to within one ring frinii the latter; tail somewhat conical, 

 indistinct, rurplish-black above and below, anterior portion of head 

 dark ycHowish gra>-. 



Total length, -U.") mm.; greatest diameter of body, 10 mm.: snout, O.f) 

 mm.; width of head across the eyes, 8.5 mm. 



Reinarls. — In general c<doration the [»resent species, of which w«», 

 possess the large type specimen collected by Dr. Abbott and a half 

 grown one received from Prof. Ijcoii \'aillant (Xo. 20404; Seychelles), 

 agrees very closely with our s])ecimens of //. rostnttus. but it is at once 

 distinguishable from the latter by the different arrangement and num- 

 ber of the folds, the greater width of the head, shorter snout, and dif 

 ferent i)ositiou of the tentacle, which in the latter is much nearei' to the 

 n(>stril. 



Ou the other hand, the new species shows considerable similarity in 

 the arrangement of the folds to Boulenger's CryptopHophis midiiplicuttts, 

 which also hails from the Seychelles. The latter represents a ditferent 

 genus, however, lacking the interior row of mandibular teeth, while 

 our si)ecimen has live well-developed inner mandibulars on each side. 

 The i»osition of the tentacle is also widely difierent it being three times 

 nearer the eye than the nostril in ('. DiiiIfiplicKfits. 



As the arrangement of the folds also resembles somewhat that of 

 Ura'otyphlKs oxyiirns, 1 was at tirst inclined to refer Dunn^ril's two 

 small specimens from the Seychelles, and recorded by him as behmging 

 to the latter species (.^lem, Soc. Sc. Nat. Cherbourg, ix, 18G3, }). ;>10, 

 pi. i, fig. 8), to the species here described by me. in looking at the 

 figure (/. c.) I find, however, tliat the tentacle is placed diiectly under 

 the nostril, and 1 am consequently forced to believe that there is still 

 another cipcilian found in the Seychelles in which the tentacle is thus 

 located, thongh its identity with the true Indian T. o.vffKnis ai)])ears 

 rather doubtful. 



In regard to tlie generic jtosition of the new species I have to remark 

 that the tentacle a|>i>cais to be surrounded entirely by a groove, but as 

 it jtresenls the same ai)pearance as in several of the si»ecinuMis of //. 

 roslratiis, in which 1 have been unable to make ont its tlap-like nature, 



