AV E X N A. 



GEXIS WEXONA, B. & G. 



CHAR. GEN. Rostra ultra inferiorem maxillam producto. Ocuh's parvu- 

 li&fimis. Scuta vert ids ample et breve. Scutis frontalibus in dua 

 aid tria paria dispositis ; occipitalibm pan-is. Scuti alii sunt : 

 praefronto-nasalis et postnaadKs, inter quos est naris in sutura sita ; 

 lore i is sire cum post/rontalis coalescente sire distincto ; anteorbitalis 

 unu.s; postorbitales duo aut })lure$ ; temporales numerosi. Sqiiamis 

 laecibus, in quadraginta quinque series longitudinales dispositis. Scu- 

 tella postabdominali, seu praeanali, indivisa ; subcaudalibus similiter 

 iiidici-sis. Cauda breve cum apice obtuso. Colore imiforme. 



GEN. CHAR. Snout protruding beyond the lower jaw. Eyes very 

 small. Vertex plate broad and short. Two or three pairs of 

 frontals. Occipitals small. A prefronto-nasal and a postnasal; 

 the nostril placed between them. Loral united to the postfrontal 

 or else separated. One anteorbital ; two or more postorbitals. 

 Temporal shields numerous. Scales smooth, disposed upon forty- 

 five longitudinal series. Postabdominal scutella entire. Subcaudal 

 scutellae entire also. Tail short, bluntly terminated. Unicolor. 



STN. Wenona, B. & G. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. VI, 1852, 176 ; & Catal. N. 

 Amer. Kept. I, 1853, 139. 



OBSERV. There are, so far, but two known genera of the group of 

 Boidae within the limits of the United States and Territories, Wenona 

 and Charina, both of which being provided with vestiges of posterior 

 limbs and a tail that is not prehensile. We regret not having at our 

 command specimens of Charina bottae, in order to institute between it 

 and the species of TT ^nona a critical comparison, since the two genera 

 appear to us most intimately related. In Charina, the subcaudal 

 scutellae appear to be a good deal smaller than in Wenona, as 

 exhibited by the figure of Tortrix bottae, Blainv. (the type of Gray's 

 genus Charina), published in the " Nouvelles Annales du Museum 

 d'histoire naturelle," for 1835. There are several other prominent 

 differences between these two genera, according to Gray's description 

 in the " Catalogue of the Specimens of Snakes in the collection of the 

 British Museum," published in 1849, and to which we are compelled 

 to refer our readers. 



