258 



The Philippine Journal of Science 



1918 



Description of type. — Snout rather pointed, with a moderately 

 sharp edge ; rostral nearly one-half the width of the head, rather 

 truncate behind, forming a broad straight suture with the 

 prefrontal; the latter very large, broadly triangular in shape, 

 its longest sutures with the preoculars ; frontal very small, bor- 

 dered by six scales, about one-fifth the size of the prefrontal; 

 interparietal as wide as the prefrontal, but somewhat smaller; 

 supra-ocular slender, about two and one-half times as long as 

 broad; parietals much larger than supra-oculars, little more 

 than twice as long as wide; nasals separated, their upper ends 

 barely extending beyond the posterior level of the rostral, which 

 reaches almost to the anterior level of the eyes ; nasal completely 

 divided by the nasal cleft, which arises from the first labial; 

 preocular in contact with two labials, not as wide as the ocular, 

 its upper end scarcely reaching higher than the upper level of 



Fio. 11. Typhlops suluensis sp. nov. ; a, side of head ; b, top of head ; c, underside of head. 



eye; eye distinct, with a minute pupil visible, not crossed by 

 the suture of ocular with preocular; two body scales border the 

 ocular behind; four lower labials, the second scarcely larger 

 than the first ; scales in twenty-two rows around middle of body ; 

 twenty on neck; twenty-two in front of anus; tail ending in a 

 sharp spine. 



Color in life. — Above dark drab gray covering nine whole and 

 two half rows of scales, each scale with a slightly curved lighter 

 area, which forms a fine-meshed network over the body, balance 

 of body very light gray, the ventral median row of scales differ- 

 entiated by being much lighter in color, with the outer edges 

 and the edges of the adjacent scale rows slightly darker; occa- 



