CATALOGUE OF SHIELD REPTILES. 



31 



a Lizard which the natives called Tuatera, I described it at 

 p. 72 of the 3rd number of the .' Zoological Miscellany,' 

 which was published on the 1st of May, 1842, as a new 

 genus, under the name of Hatteria, belonging to the family 

 Ayamidce, calling the species Hatteria punctata, without 

 observing that I had previously described the skull 

 under the name of Sphenodon. The animal was afterwards 

 figured with its skull, afterwards obtained, in the ' Zoo- 

 logy of the Erebus and Terror.' 



Dr. Dieffenbach observes that the species " lives in holes, 

 especially on the slopes of the sandhills of the shore. The 

 older missionaries say it was formerly very common, and 

 the natives lived upon it ; but for the last fifty years it 

 has been scarcely ever seen." This specimen was found on 

 a small rocky island, two miles from the coast, in the Lay 

 of Plenty, and was given to Dr. Dieffenbach alive, but 

 shortly died, as it would not eat any thing that was offered 

 to it. It is extremely sluggish in captivity, and could be 

 handled without any attempt at resistance or biting. The 

 natives called it Tuatera. 



Order AMPHISB/ENIA (AMPHISB/ENIANS). 



Body elongate, cylindrical, naked, with square imbedded 

 plates placed in cross rings divided into two sets by a 

 slight longitudinal groove on each side. Tail continuous, 

 short, blunt. Tongue not sheathed, flat, enlarged and 

 nicked at the end, ending in two smooth threads ; the rest 

 covered with large fiat papilla? or scales. Eyes small, under 

 the skin ; eyelid none. Ears hidden under the skin. Mouth 

 small ; jaws not extensile. Feet none, or rarely in front. 

 Vent rather transversely plaited. Claspers one on each 

 side. Skull very solid, orbits incomplete ; tympanic bone 

 enclosed in the skull, oblique. Parietal bone simple. Tem- 

 poral and mastoid bones scarcely separate. 



Amphisbaenians (Amphisbaeuia), Gray, Cat. Tort. Sfc. 1844, 



p. 68. 

 Lacertilia, Amphisbsenoidea, Stannius. 

 G'dnther, Phil. Trans. 1872. 



Stannius and Giinther arrange these animals with the 

 Lizards. 



Sir Andrew Smith kindly presented to the British Mu- 

 seum, along with a number of other Reptiles which he has 

 described, the types of his genus Monotrophis, which I had 

 not before seen ; and having received from Mr. Welwitsch 

 and from the collection of my late excellent and lamented 

 friend Dr. Balfour Baikie two Amphisbamians from Africa, 

 and from Mr. Bates a species from the Amazons which I 



believed had not hitherto been recorded in the Catalogue, 

 I proceeded to examine them ; and for the purpose of making 

 the comparison more complete, I was led to study all the 

 specimens of this tribe we have in the Museum. 



Examination of the species in the British Museum 

 dissatisfied me with the manner in which the species had 

 hitherto been arranged and described ; and after repeated 

 examination, I have reduced my observations to the fol- 

 lowing results : — 



The determination of the species themselves, and the 

 means which a paper resulting from the reexamination 

 and comparison of all the species in a large collection affords 

 to a student, are much more certain than any isolated de- 

 scription of the species regarded as new, however detailed 

 and particular the description may be ; and in a compara- 

 tive review of the species of a group or order the distinc- 

 tions may be stated in a more condensed form. 



The Amphisbomians are very rarely collected ; hence 

 few species are found in museums and noticed in systematic 

 catalogues. This is explained by their living almost ex- 

 clusively in the nests of ants, and being seldom seen by 

 the casual observer. There is reason to believe that every 

 country which has ants has some form of Amphisbaenians. 

 Until lately they were thought to be confined to Tropical 

 America, though one was described by Vandeli as occurring 

 in Spain as long ago as 1780 ; but his essay and the animal 

 itself were alike so little known to naturalists, that Pro- 

 fessors Hemprich (in 1820) and Wagler each described 

 Vandeli's species as new, the latter as a South- American 

 species. Professor Kaup described a species from North 

 Africa in 1830, and M. Gervais redescribed it as new in 

 1835. MM. Dumeril and Bibron have described a speci- 

 men in the Leyden Museum from Guinea ; Dr. Andrew 

 Smith one as occurring at the Cape ; and Dr. Peters has 

 added another from the east coast of Africa. The number of 

 African species is in this Catalogue raised to seven. As yet 

 none have been received from Asia proper ; but Sir Charles 

 Fellows brought from Xanthus the same species that is 

 found in Spain, Portugal, and North Africa. 



The following table shows the geographical distribution 

 of the species here recorded : — 



Eastern Hemisphere. 

 Fam. Trogonophidje. 



1. Trogonophis Wiegmanni. N. Africa. 



Fam. Amphisbjenibje. 



2. Blanus eiru reus. Spain, N. Africa, Asia Minor. 



