4240 SCINCIDA. 
middle of the body. Preanals not enlarged. Digits very short. 
Tail half as long as head and body. Brown above, yellowish in- 
feriorly, each scale with darker centre. 
millim. millim. 
Total length ...... 102 Fore limb ........ 4:5 
Head” osc ales ee2eot aus 9 Hind limb ....... 6°5 
Width of head...... 6 MAIL coy uate a sca aap a hes 34 
Body sashes sake 59 
Ceylon 
- a, Ad. Ceylon. G. H. K. Thwaites, Esq. [P.]. (Type-) 
24. ACONTIAS *. 
Acontias, Cuv. R. A. ii. p.60; Wagler, Syst. Amph. p.196; Weegm. : 
Herp. Mex. p. 11; Dum. & Bibr. v. p. 801; Gray, Cat, Liz, 
p. 127; Giinth. Rept. Brit. Ind. p. 96. 
Nessia, Gray, Ann. N. H. ii. 1839, p. 336, and Cat. p. 126 ; Giinth, 1. ¢. 
Evesia, Gray, U. cc. pp. 3836, 127. 
Tetrapedos, Jan, Arch. f. Nat. 1860, p. 69. 
Palatine bones not meeting on the median line of the palate, 
which is toothless. Teeth conical. Eye small, with transparent 
lower eyelid; upper eyelid not developed. Ear hidden or just dis- 
tinguishable. Nostril pierced in the large rostral shield, with the 
posterior border of which it is connected by a long straight hori- 
zontal suture; no supranasals; no prefrontals or frontoparietals. 
Body much elongate; limbs rudimentary or absent. 
South Africa, Madagascar, Ceylon. 
Synopsis of the Speries. 
I. Several scales border the anal cleft anteriorly ; posterior border 
of the mental shield not reaching to below the anterior border 
of the orbit. 
A. Interparietal broader than the frontal. 
Limbs present, tridactyle.............. 1. burtonii, p. 425, 
Limbs present, bud-like ............ . 2. monodactylus, p. 425. 
Limbs absent 20.2... cee cece ee eee eee 3. layardit, p. 426. 
B. Interparietal narrower than the frontal ; limbs absent. 
30 to 32 scales round the body ........ 4. holomelas, p. 426. 
18 scales round the body .............. 5. hildebrandtiz, p. 427. 
II. A single, very large preeanal plate; limbs absent. 
A. Snout obtusely rounded, moderately projecting beyond the 
labial margin ; 16 to 20 scales round the middle of the body. 
First supraocular not larger than the two 
others together ; lower surfaces yellowish 6. meleagris, p. 427. 
* Acontias rubro-caudatus, Grandid. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. xxi. 1869, p. 342.— 
Madagascar. 
