336 COLTJBEIDJIS. 



g-h. rS (Sc. 27 : V. 192 ; Cameroons. Kev. J. Pinnock [0.]- 



C. 45) & 2'(Sc. 27; 



V. 205 ; 0. 42). 

 i. Yg. (Sc. 25 ; V. 214 ; Fernando Po. Zool. Soc. (Type of 



C 44). B. poensis.) 



h. i (Sc. 27 ; V. 205 ; C. 43). W. Africa. 

 ;. s , skel. W. Africa. Sir A. Smith [P.]. 



45. LYCOPHIDIUM. 



lijcodou, part., ScMeg. Phys. Serp. ii. p. 104 (1837). 



LvcopHdion, Dum. 8f Bibr. Mem. Ac. Sc. xxiii. 1853, p. 462, and 



Erp. OSn. vii. p. 412 (18.54) ; Qiinth. Cat. Col. Sn. p. 197 (1858) ; 



Jan, Elenco sist. Ofid. p. 96 (1863) ; Peters, Reise n. Mossamb. iii. 



p. 134 (1882). 

 LissopLis, HalloiD. Proc. Ac. Philad. 1857, p. 59. 

 Alopeciou, part., Gilnth. Cat. p. 195. 

 Metoporhina, Oiinth. I. c. p. 197. 



Maxillary and dentary bones angularly bent inwards anteriorly, 

 the 6 to 10 anterior maxillary teeth increasing in size, followed 

 after a short interval by 15 to 17 very small teeth ; mandible ante- 

 riorly with five or six small teeth increasing in size and one or two 

 large fang-like teeth, followed by very small teeth. Head scarcely 

 distinct from neck, much depressed ; eye small, with vertically 

 eUiptio pupil ; nostril in a single nasal followed by a small post- 

 nasal ; prseocular much developed on the upper surface of the head, 

 taking the place of the supraocular anteriorly. Body cylindrical ; 

 scales smooth, with apical pits, in 15 or 17 rows ; ventrals rounded. 

 Tail short or moderate ; saboaudals in two rows. Hypapophyses 

 developed throughout the vertebral column. 



Tropical and South Africa. 



Synopsis of the Species. 



I. Subcaudals less than 60 ; loreal separated from the eye by the 

 prseocular. 



A. Scales in 15 rows ; ventrals 153-155 ; subcaudals 23-32. 



1. meleagris, p. 337. 



B. Scales in 17 rows. 



1. Eight upper labials. 



a. Eostral nearly twice as broad as deep. 



u. Two labials entering the eye ; diameter of the eye not 

 greater than its distance from the mouth ; ventrals 

 176-188 3. laterals, p. 338. 



fi. Three labials entering the eye. 



* Parietal shields considerably longer than the distance 

 between the frontal and the end of the snout. 



