430 ANELYTROPIDZ. 
Fam. 19. ANELYTROPIDE. 
Gymnophthalmi, part., Wiegmann, Herp, Mex. 1834. 
Scincoidiens typhlophthalmes, part., Duméril § Bibron, Erp. Gén. v. 
1839, 
Typhlinide, part., Gray, Cat. Liz. 1845. 
Anelytropide, Cope, Proc. Ac. Philad. 1864. 
Anelytropide, Buulenger, Ann. § Mag. N. H. (5) xiv. 1884. 
Tongue short, slightly nicked anteriorly, covered with imbricate 
papille. Teeth few, conical, slightly hooked, none on the palate. 
Interorbital septum and columella cranii well developed ; no bony 
postorbital or postfrontosquamosal arches; premaxillary single; 
infraorbital fossa present, bounded by the palatine and transverse 
bones ; palatines and pterygoids not meeting on the median line of 
the palate. Limbs absent ; pectoral and pelvic arches reduced to 
a small slender bone on each side. Abdominal ribs present*. 
Body vermiform, with osteodermal plates as in the Scincide f. 
Eyes concealed under the skin. No ear-opening. No preanal 
pores. 
The few members of this family, a degraded type of the Scincide, 
with which they are closely connected through the genus Acontias, 
are burrowers, and up to quite recently were believed to be con- 
fined to Tropical and South Africa; a genus newly added by Cope 
is from Mexico, showing that the Scincoid Lizards have undergone 
in the New World the same degenerative process as in the Old 
World. 
Synopsis of the Genera. 
I. Longitudinal series of scales in odd number; several small 
scales border the anal cleft. 
Nostril pierced between the rostral, a nasal, and the first labial. 
1. Anelytropsis, p. 430. 
Nostril pierced in the rostral only .... 2. Feylinia, p. 431. 
II. Longitudinal series of scales in even number; a large pre- 
anal scale ; rostral covering the snout. 
3. Typhlosaurus, p. 432. 
1. ANELYTROPSIS. 
Anelytropsis, Cope, Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. xxii, 1885, p. 380. 
Nostril pierced at the junction between the rostral, the nasal, 
* Of. Peters, Reise n. Mossamb. iii. pl. xiii. fig. 1. 285 ; 
+ The statement made in the Synopsis of the Families (Vol. i. p. 3) that, 
osteodermal plates are absent is erroneous. . 
