2. OPHISAURUS. 281 
prefrontals on a transverse line; interparietal narrower than the 
parietals, as broad as or narrower than the occipital ; two shields 
on a line from the nasal to the azygos prefrontal ; three supra- 
oculars and five supraciliaries. Ear-opening distinct, horizontal, 
slightly larger than the nostril. Dorsal plates in twelve or fourteen 
longitudinal series, keeled, the keels much stronger in the young 
than in the adult; ventrals in ten longitudinal series, strongly 
keeled in the young, the keels disappearing with age. A small 
rudiment of extremities on each side of the anal flap. Tail once 
and a half to twice as long as head and body; upper and lower 
caudal plates keeled. Brown, lighter inferiorly ; young olive-grey, 
with dark-brown undulated cross bands on the back and vertical 
bars on the sides of the head. 
From snout to vent 45 centim. ; tail 65. 
South-eastern Europe, South-western Asia, North Africa. 
a, 6. Adult. Dalmatia. 
e. Her. Greece. Rey. W. Hennah [P.]. 
d,e. Ad. & yg. Europe. Sir J. Richardson TP, . 
f. Ad., stuffed. Europe. 
gh, i-k. Ad. Xanthus. Sir C. Fellows [P.]. 
4 Ad. Palestine. Rev. H. B. Tristram [P.]. 
m. Ad. Lake of Galilee. Rev. H. B. Tristram [| P.}. 
n. Yg. Mount Hermon. Rev. H. B. Tristram [P.}. 
i” p. “Ad., skeletons. | Europe. 
Var. ornatus. 
Pseudopus apus, forma ornata, Boetty. Zool. Anz. 1881, p. 571, and 
Abh, Senck, Ges, xiii, 1883, p. 118. 
Flesh-coloured, more greyish along the back, yellowish inferiorly ; 
head uniform, except a few irregularly scattered black dots ; back 
with about twenty narrow undulated cross bands, formed of blue, 
black-edged scales. Known from a young specimen. 
Casablanca, Morocco. 
2. Ophisaurus ventralis. 
Ophisaurus ventralis, Gray, Cat. p. 56. 
Anguis ventralis, Linn. 8. N.i. p. 391. 
Chameesaura ventralis, Schneid, Hist. Amph. ii. P- 215. 
Ophisaurus ventralis, Daud. Rept. vii. p. 352, pl. Ixxxviii.; Duvern. 
R. A., Rept. pl. xxiv. fig. 1; Dum. & Bibr. v. p. 423; Holbr. N. 
Am. Herp. ii. p. 189, pl. xx.; Yarrow, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus, 
no. 24, p. 46. 
Hyalinus ventralis, Merv. Tent. p. 79. 
Ophisaurus punctatus, Cuv. BR, A. 2nd ed. ii. p. 70. 
striatulus, Cuv. J. e. 
— lineatus, Gray, Ann. N. #H. i, 1888, p. 391. 
Lateral teeth conical; teeth on the pterygoids in three to five 
longitudinal series, forming a broad band ; one or two series on the 
palatines. Azygos prefrontal usually narrower than the greatest 
