376 Zoological Society : — 



two distinct tubes is not a distinctive character of Furcella, as we 

 have in the British Museum a Teredo or rather a Xylotrya from 

 Sierra Leone which has some of its tubes furnished with two distinct 

 siphonal apertures, others in which the tubes are only partially 

 separated, and others with a simple aperture. 



The " Cloisonnaine de laMediterranee" of M. Matheron (Annales 

 des Sciences et de 1' Industrie du Midi de la France, vols. I & 2), 

 quoted by Deshayes (Ann. Sci. Nat. xi. 245), is evidently a Teredo, 

 furnished with shelly valves and palettes, and not a Furcella. 



On a New Genus and several New Species of Uropel- 

 TiD^, IN the Collection of the British Museum. By 

 Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., F.L.S., Pres. Ent. Soc. 



These animals, when first discovered, were arranged with Typhlops 

 by Schneider ; and afterwards Cuvier, who had previously regarded 

 them as belonging to that genus, formed for some of them a genus 

 under the name of Uropeltis. In the 'Catalogue of the Specimens of 

 Lizards in the Collection of the British Museum' (]2mo, 1845), 

 I formed for them a family under the name of UropeltidcB, and di- 

 vided the species into three genera, each containing a single species. 

 I lately described a fourth genus named Marina in the ' Proceed- 

 ings ' of this Society (1858). 



Professor Johann Miiller, in an article on the " Osteology of Rep- 

 tiles " in Tiedemann's 'Zeitschrift fiir Physiologic' for 1831 (vol. iv.), 

 gave an account of the osteology of the two genera Rhinophis and 

 Uropeltis. Schlegel in 1837 regarded them as a genus under the 

 name of Pseudotyphlops, and noticed three species. 



Instead of this family being characterized by the tail being " cylin- 

 drical, obliquely truncated above," it ought to be described as tail 

 cylindrical or compressed, covered with keeled scales, which are 

 separate or more or less united into a horny shield, — the scales on 

 the tip of the tail being always united and many-keeled. 



Having occasion to re-examine the various specimens which we 

 have received since the printing of the Catalogue above referred to, I 

 have found several additional species. 



The family may be divided into three groups, according to the 

 form of the tail. 



I. The tail obliquely truncated with a flat superior disk. 



1. SiLOBOURA. Disk oblong, covered with separate, two or four 

 keeled scales. 



2. Uropeltis. Disk circular, covered with a single tubercular 

 [date. 



