CLA SSI PICA TION OF VER TEBRA TA 28 



Tail prehensile. Tongue very long and protractile. Palaeo- 

 tropical. 



Only Family Chamaeleontidae. Only genus, with two 

 subgenera : Chamaeleon. About fifty species, almost all in 

 the Malagasy sub-region and in Africa ; two species in South 

 Arabia and Socotra ; one in India and Ceylon. 



2. Order Ophidia, Brogniart. Eight and left mandible 

 with loose ligamentous connexion. 



Without sternum and pectoral limbs and girdle. 



Pelvic limbs and girdle absent or vestigial. 



About 1600 recent species. 



The oldest known Ophidian is Palaeophis, London Clay, 

 England. 



Typhlopidae. Pelvis vestigial. Mandible with coronoid. 

 Without ectopterygoid. Pterygoid not articulating with the 

 quadrate. Owing to absence of the squamosal, the quadrate 

 articulates directly with the prootic. Prefrontal in contact 

 with nasal. Eyes hidden by shields. Burrowing snakes. 

 Maxilla very short, loose, toothed. Mandible toothless. 



Typhlops. South Europe, South Asia, Africa, Australia, 

 South America. 



Grlauconiidae. Like the Typhlopidae, but maxilla fixed 

 and toothless, mandible toothed. With vestige of femur. 

 Glauconia. Africa, SW. Asia, tropical America. 



Boidae. Both jaws toothed. With ectopterygoid, supra- 

 temporal and coronoid. With vestigial pelvis and hind-limbs. 

 Prefrontal in contact with nasals. Supratemporal large and loose. 

 Boa, Python, etc. Cosmopolitan. 



Ilysiidae. Like the Boidae, but the supratemporal is 

 small and firmly wedged in between quadrate and prootic. 

 Ilysia in Guiana. Cylindrophis in Indo-Malaya. 



Uropeltidae. Both jaws toothed. With coronoid. Pre- 

 frontal in contact with nasal. Without supratemporal, and 

 without vestiges of limbs and pelvis. 



Small burrowing snakes of Southern India. 

 Uropeltis, Pthinophis, etc. 



Cohibridae. Both jaws toothed. With movable supratem- 

 poral bone. Prefrontals not reaching the nasals. No coronoid. 

 Maxilla horizontal. Pterygoid articulating with quadrate. 



