19-i ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



This species was found only on or near the tops of the limestone hills 

 back of Ensenada, associated with a few Ameiva exsul. 



Amphisbaena Linne 

 Amphisbsena caeca CirVier 



Eighteen specimens of this species were collected at Aibonito, Bayamon, 

 and Rio Piedras. This species is confined to Porto Rico, with a related 

 species in the Virgin Islands (A. fenestrates) and another in Hispaniola 

 (A. manni). 



The variation in the present series falls well within the limits estab- 

 lished by Stejneger. One specimen has a small supraocular plate on each 

 side. When killed in formalin, the head is bent abruptly to one side, in- 

 dicating apparently a special development of the muscles of the neck, 

 which doubtless is of advantage to the animal in burrowing. The largest 

 specimen measures 233 mm. ; tail, 18 mm. 



All of the specimens were found burrowing in the ground, most of 

 them uncovered by cultivation. One was found about three inches be- 

 neath an ant's nest, under a log, while digging up the eggs of Leimadophis. 

 Three eggs were found — one beneath a termite nest, the other two under 

 the log where the above-mentioned adult was dug up. The largest egg 

 measured 42 x 11 mm. 



Mabuya Fitzinger 



Mabuya sloanii (Dan din) 



The following localities are represented by seven specimens in the col- 

 lection : Bayamon, Ensenada, and Mona and Culebra Islands. This 

 species ranges from Mona Island through Porto Rico and the Virgin 

 Islands. Barbour (1916, p. 219) refers two specimens from Turk's 

 Island, in the southern Bahamas, to this species, and it seems probable 

 that the Mabuya of Hispaniola is also referable to the same species. 



With seven specimens before me — three from Culebra, three from 

 Porto Rico, and one from Mona — I am unable to find differences cor- 

 responding to the separate localities, other than the difference in color 

 described below. In all specimens there are two pairs of chin shields in 

 contact behind the unpaired postmental. The prefrontals are narrowly 

 or widely separated by a suture between the frontal and the frontonasal. 

 The supraoculars are three on one side in one specimen. One specimen 

 has three large occipitals on one side. The scales about the body are 

 thirty-two in the specimens from Culebra and Mona and in one from 

 Porto Rico, thirty in the remaining two. 



