CATALOGUE 



OF 



SNAKES. 



Order OPHIDIA* 



" Quadrate bone articulated to the skull ; brain-capsule entirely 

 osseous ; rami of the mandible united by ligament. Anal cleft trans- 

 verse. Copulatory organs present, paired." — Gunther, Phil. Tram. 

 clvu. 1867, p. 625. 



Synopsis of the Families. 



I. No ectopterygoid (transpalatine) ; pterygoid not extending to 



quadrate or mandible ; no supratemporal ; prsefrontal forming 

 a suture with nasal ; coronoid present ; vestiges of pelvis. 



Maxillary vertical, loosely attached, toothed ; mandible edentulous ; 



a single pelvic bone. 1. Typhlopidse, Vol. I. p. 3. 



MaxiUary bordering mouth, forming a suture with prsemaxiUary, 



prsefrontal, and frontal, toothless; lower jaw toothed; pubis 



and ischium present, latter forming a symphysis. 



2. Glauconiidae, Vol. I. p. 57. ^ 



II. Ectopterygoid present ; both jaws toothed. 



A. Coronoid present ; prsefrontal in contact with nasal. 

 1. Vestiges of hind limbs ; supratemporal present. 



Supratemporal large, suspending quadrate. 



3. Boidse, Vol. I. p. 71. 

 Supratemporal small, intercalated in the cranial wall. 



4. IlysiidsB, Vol. I. p. 131. 



* The author now regards the Snakes as forming only a Suborder {Ophidia) 

 of the Order Sqmmata, Oppel, equivalent to the Suborders Laoertilia and 

 Rhiptoglossa, which have been dealt with in the ' Catalogue of Lizards.' 

 Of. Boulenger, Faun. Ind., Kept. p. 52 (1890), and Proc. Zool. Soo. 1891 

 p. 117. 



VOL. I. B 



