820 MR. W. FERGUSON ON A NEW ASPIDURA. [Dec. 5. 



rows of scales round the body. A. brachyorrhos has never, as far as 

 I know, been found near the coast of Ceylon, whilst A. guentheri 

 occurs close to the coast, and never far from it. A. guentheri is not 

 the young of any other species of Aspidura ; because I have seen 

 about one hundred specimens, and I have never seen one longer than 

 about 6 inches, whilst amongst them were several young ones from 1^ 

 to 2 inches in length, retaining all the specific characters and coloration 

 of their parents. A young A. brachyorrhos, the size of A. guentheri 

 does not in any way differ from its parents or approach A. guentheri. 

 A. guentheri differs from A. brachyorrhos markedly in the following 

 respects — its small size and dark colour, in the number of its ventrals 

 and subcaudals, its hexagonal-shaped and non-imbricate scales, its 

 pointed snout, the extension backwards of the anterior frontal between 

 the postfrontals, the separation of the preocular from the superciliary 

 by the postfrontal, which runs into the eye, the larger size of the 

 upper postorbital, and the scales it is in contact with. In twelve 

 specimens of A. guentheri examined by me, the average number of 

 ventrals was 109f, subcaudals 20f, totals 130fV, total length 583 

 inches, length of tail 0/2 inch. The lowest number of ventrals, 104, 

 has the largest number of subcaudals =26. 



Colombo, Ceylon. 

 August 29, 1870. 



