396 Mr. G. A. Boulenger on new 
the hunters after a lost Atlantis, were they informed upon 
the facts which science itself so plainly teaches, could ask no 
stronger argument for either of their positions. But such 
persons are usually not so informed, and it seems almost im- 
possible for them to become so and still hold such views, for, 
fortunately, knowledge is a poison that contains its own 
antidote, and the very possession of the facts suffices to pre- 
clude a perverse use of them. 
XLV.— Descriptions of new Species of Reptilesand Batrachians 
in the British Museum.—Part Il. By G. A. BouLENGER. 
Blanus Bedriage, sp. un. 
In a recent paper *, Dr. J. v. Bedriaga has established the 
specific distinctness of two forms of Amphisbeenas which have 
hitherto been confounded under the name of Blanus cinereus, 
Vandelli, viz. a Western form, inhabiting the Spanish penin- 
sula, Morocco, and Algiers, for which the name Bb. cinereus 
must be retained, and an Eastern form, occurring in Asia 
Minor, which he named Amphisbena Strauchi. My attention 
being drawn to this question, I have reviewed the series of 
Blanus in the British Museum; and the result has not only 
confirmed Dr. v. Bedriaga’s conclusions, but brought to light 
a third form, represented by several specimens from the river 
Xanthus, Asia Minor, and which must likewise be regarded 
as a species, which I will name B. Bedriage ; its characters 
are as follows :— 
Intermaxillary teeth seven, maxillaries three on each side, 
mandibulars seven on each side. Snout prominent. Three 
lower labials, the first and second large, the third small; the 
suture between the frontal and the second labial nearly as 
long as that between the latter and the ocular. No cervical 
fold separating the head from the body. Annuli 101 to 114 
on the body, 19 to 21 on the tail; an annulus contains 16 to 
18 dorsal and 18 to 20 ventral segments. Preanal pores ten. 
The other Oriental specimens of Blanus in the collection, 
and which bear the localities Constantinople and valley of 
the Meinder, agree in every respect with B. Straucht, of which 
a specimen from Smyrna has been obtained from Dr. v. Be- 
driaga. 
Stenostoma affine, sp. n. 
Allied to S. albifrons, but distinguished by the much larger 
* Arch. f. Naturg. 1884, p. 23, pl. iv. 
