DESCRIPTION OF A NEW AMPHISB.^NOID LIZARD FROM 



PERU. 



By Leonhard Stejneger. 



Curator, Division of Reptiles, U. S. Natio7ial Museum. 



Mr. C. II. T. Townsend has recent!}' presented to the U. S. National 

 Museum a specimen of Amphisbsena, wliich he suspected to be 

 undescribed. Upon examination I fmd that liis suspicion was well 

 founded, and I therefore take great pleasure in naming it for him. 

 It was found near his house in Piura, northwestern Peru. 



AMPHISB^NA TOWNSENDI, new species. 



Diagnosis. — Nasals forming a suture on the snout; 4 preanal 

 pores; 2 prefrontals, distinct from nasals and labials; suture between 

 nasals about one-half that between prefrontals; temporals small; 

 ocular in contact with second and tliird upper labials; no lateral Une; 

 44 segments in a ring on the middle of the body; 276 rings on the 

 body. 



Habitat. — Peru. 



Type.— Cat. No. 47087, U.S.N.M.; Piura, Peru, March 14, 1911; 

 C. H. T. Townsend, collector. 



Description of type specimen. — Rostral small, the portion visible 

 from above very short; nasals forming a suture, about one-half as 

 long as that between the prefrontals, slightly shorter than the suture 

 between the frontals; prefrontals large, the suture between them 

 much longer than that between the frontals; frontals moderate, 

 about half the size of the prefrontals; ocular moderate, about the 

 same size as the tliird supralabial; 2 postoculars; temporals small; 

 no occipitals; 3 supralabials of equal length, second and tliird in 

 contact with ocular; mental followed by a small median postmental; 

 behind the second lower labial a medium-sized malar sliield; behind 

 the postmental and between the malars, 3 transverse rows of scales, 

 consisting, respectively, of 4, 5, and 6 scales; 276 rings on the body, 

 25 on the tail; 44 segments in a ring around the body, the segments 

 longer than broad and slightly narrower on back than on abdomen; 

 no trace of a lateral line; anal shields, 6; preanal pores, 4. Color 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 41— No. 1856. 



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