1 1 5 



an AmphUbana furnished with short le^s ; but, unlike those animals, 

 the seal.- of the middle of the belly and the middle of the under tide 

 of the body are of the same length, hut twice as wide, as the other 

 scales, forming equal-sided Bquare shields like those of the true La- 

 eertidce. 



Their general appearance would lead one to the idea that they may 

 form a group intermediate between the AmpM&bana and the Zonu- 

 riform Lizards, but evidently more nearly allied to the latter. 



Family RiAMlD.fi. 

 The characters of the genus. 



Genus Riama. 



Head elongate, with regular shields ; labial shield short, broad. 

 ( hin and gullet with large shields. Tongue scaly ; apex bifid ; lobes 

 acute. Nostrils lateral, in the front part of a single plate. Eyes 

 distinct, furnished with eyelids. Ears sunken, covered with small 

 scales. Throat with several distinct collars, the hinder largest. 

 Body and tail elongate, cylindrical ; sides with a narrow impressed 

 groove extending from the axilla to the groin. The scales of the 

 hack, sides of the belly, and upper part and sides of the tail, square, 

 elongate, four-sided, narrow, placed in equal-sized regular transverse 

 rings and longitudinal series ; of the middle of the belly and under 

 side of the tail, broader (about twice as broad as the others), square. 

 Legs four, short, moderately strong. Toes 5*5: the front short, 

 subequal, claws short, blunt ; the hind ones unequal ; the inner very 

 short, rudimentary ; the outer elongate, placed lower on the foot 

 than the rest, claws longer, acute. Femoral pores few, distinct. 

 Tail elongate, cylindrical, rather fusiform, tapering to a fine point. 

 Vent with two arched series of squarish shields in front. 



The rings of dorsal scales are rather interrupted over the vertebral 

 line : on the nape between the shoulders and on the front part of the 

 back there is a line, or two or three series, of small Bcales ; bul these 

 gradually become fewer and fewer, and in the hinder part of the 

 back the rings of scales are only interrupted by a very narrow 

 sinuous impressed line, which terminates over the loins. I am not 

 certain whether this interruption of the rings is a character com- 

 mon to the genus, or a peculiarity of the individual under exa- 

 mination ; it is not to be observed on the upper surface of the tail. 

 A very narrow, indistinct, impressed line is generally to be observed 

 in the same situation in the genus Chirotes, and in some specimens 

 of Atnphisbeena. 



The fronts of the fore legs and thighs are furnished with '■■■ 



flat shields ; the real of the Legs, groin, and axilla- are covered with 

 small granular scales. The head has three single shields, the second 

 and third being separated by a frontal pair, placed between the 

 hinder parts of the last of the three pair- of rapcrciliaries i the sides 

 of the head are covered with three pair- of large polygonal -hi- Idl | 

 the temple- with small polygonal -hicM-. 



