284 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.41. 



(in alcohol) above, dark purplish brown, the color of the back de- 

 scending on the sides as irregular scattered spots; sides and under- 

 side pale. According to Mr. Townsend's note the living specimen 

 had a distinct lavender pink tinge on forward half, especially about 

 head. 



Dimensions. 



mm. 



Tip of snout to vent 206 



Tail 21 



Diameter of body 5 



Remarks. — Cope, in 1875,^ described an AmpTiishsena occidentalis 

 collected by Prof. James Orton in the valley of Jequetepeque, Peru, 

 but as he neither gave the number of body rings nor of segments 

 contained in a ring nor stated whether a lateral line was present 

 or not, the status of this name has always been dubious. Thinking 

 that it might possibly be the species described in the present paper, I 

 asked Mr. Witmer Stone to furnish the missing data from the type in 

 the Pliiladelphia Academy. This he has very kindly done. He found 

 179 rings from corner of mouth to anus and 20 from anus to tip of 

 tail, a ring on the middle of the body containing 45 segments, 19 

 above the lateral lines and 26 below. It is consequently evident 

 that Townsend's Amphisbsena is a totally different animal. A. 

 occidentalis, on the other hand, appears to represent the form which 

 Doctor Peracca has indicated as intermediate between A. darwinii 

 and A. camura having from 44 to 60 segments in a body ring, 

 while the former has 28 to 40 and the latter 74 to 84 such rings. ^ 



' Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, (2) vol. 8, p. 176. 

 2 Peracca, BolK Mus. Zool. Torino, vol. 10, no. 195, Peb. C, 1895, p. 10. 



