VII. 



DESCRIPTION OF SOME NEW SPECIES OF REPTILES FROM 

 THE REGION OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 



Htlodes maculatus, Agass. 

 PI. VI., figs. 1, 2, 3. 



This species is so characteristic as to leave no difficulty in distin- 

 guishing it from those already known belonging to the same genus. 

 Its form is narrow, elongate ; and its head smaller, in proportion to 

 the body, than in any other species. The length of the head is con- 

 tained twice in the length of the body, thus forming one-third of the 

 whole length. The body is oblong, rounded, somewhat broader than 

 high, tapering towards its posterior extremity. The head is ellipti- 

 cal, tapering towards the snout, somewhat distinct from the trunk by 

 a shght contraction of the neck ; its greatest width is behind the 

 eyes ; its upper surface is depressed so that the head appears rather 

 flat. The eyes, of a medium size, are turned upwards near the mar- 

 gin of, the head, but are hardly prominent. The nostrils are lateral, 

 and very near the extremity of the snout. The tympanic circle 

 is small, and near the angle of the mouth. The mouth is widely 

 split ; the lower jaw is overlapped by the upper, and the snout 

 slightly prominent. The palatal teeth are arranged in pairs, upon 

 two small, very narrow bones ; they are extremely minute. Those 

 of the upper jaw, still less developed, occur only on the middle third 

 of its arch. The tongue is broad, and fills the whole floor of the 

 mouth ; it is free upon two-thirds of its posterior extremity, the 

 margin of which is obtusely bilobed ; the anterior margin and the 

 sides are hardly free. 



