230 CHAM^LEONTIDJE. 



shield. Nostril pierced in the rostral, with a straight horizontal 

 suture behind it. Limbs totally absent in the female, the hind 

 pair represented in the male by two flap-like rudiments. 



269. Dibamns novse-guinese. 



Dibamus novse-guineje, Diim. $ Bibr. Erp. Gen. v, p. 834 ; Bouleng. 



Cat. Liz. 'ill, p. 435. 



Rliinophidion nicobaricurn, Steindaclm. Novara, Kept. p. 53. 

 Typhloscincus nicobaricus, Steind. 1. c. p. 04, pi. iii, figs. 6-8. 

 Dibamus nicobaricus, Stoliczlta, J. A. S. B. xhi, 1873, p. 168 ; Theob. 



Cat. p. 69 ; Boukny. 1. c. 



Snout conical, obtuse, slightly projecting. 4 enlarged shields on 

 the head besides the rostral and labials, viz. a frontal, an iuterparie- 

 tal, and an ocular on each side ; interparietal shield largest ; eye 

 scarcely distinguishable through the ocular ; a narrow, elongate, 

 trapezoidal mental ; a very large sublabial on each side. Scales 

 equal, 22 to 26 round the middle of the body. Prseanal scales 

 very small. Tail very short, obtuse. Uniform purplish-brown. 



Total length 6-5 inches. 



Hob. Nicobars, Sumatra, Celebes, Moluccas, New Guinea. 



Suborder II. RHIPTOGLOSSA. 



External nasal openings bounded by the maxillary and the pne- 

 frontal, the nasal bones being excluded from their border ; vomer 

 single ; pterygoids not reaching quadrate. No clavicles or inter- 

 clavicle, though the limbs are well developed. Digits united 

 in two bundles, forming a grasping organ. Tongue cylindrical, 

 extremely extensile and projectile, sheathed at the base, club-shaped 

 and viscose at the end, with an exceedingly elongate glossohyal 

 bone. 



A single family. 



Family I. CHAM^ELEONTID^. 



The head usually forms a bony casque, ornamented with crests or 

 tubercles. The interorbital septum is present. PraDmaxillary ex- 

 tremely small, edentulous ; orbit bony all round, the pra?- and post- 

 frontals often joining to form a supraorbital roof ; a pair of supra- 

 nasal fontanelles, bordered by the nasals, the praefrontals, and the 

 frontal ; the latter bone single ; " parietal " foramen, if present, 

 pierced in the frontal ; parietal single, often much narrowed and 

 compressed, forming a crest, and meeting posteriorly the extremities 

 of the squamosals. In some species the parietals in the adult are 

 much expanded and form a bony slab. Dentition acrodont ; teeth 



