430 AMPHISBENIDE. 
Fam. 15. AMPHISBANIDZ. 
Amphisbenide, Gray, Ann. Phil. (2) x. 1825, 
Amphisbenoidea, Fitzinger, Neue Classif. Rept. 1826. 
Angues, part., Wagler, Syst. Amph. 1830. 
Amphishbene, Wiegmann, Herp. Mex. 1834. 
Chalcidiens glyptodermes, Duméril § Bibron, Erp. Gén. v. 1889, 
Trogonophide, Amphishenide, Lepidosternide, Chirotide, Gray, 
Cat. Tort. &c. 1844. 
Amphisbeenidee, Cope, Proc. Ac. Philad. 1864. 
Amphisbzenide, Trogonophide, Cope, Proc. Amer. Assoc, Adv. Se 
xix. 1871. 
Amphisheenide, Boulenger, Ann. § Mag. N. H, (5) xiv. 1884, 
Tongue moderately elongate, arrow-headed, covered with imbri- 
cate scale-like papille, ending in two long, narrow, smooth points. 
Teeth large, few, anchylosed to the inner (Prosphyodontes) or to 
the upper (Emphyodontes) edge of the jaws; premaxillary teeth 
usually in odd number; no pterygoid teeth. Skull thick, strongly 
ossified, without interorbital septum, nor columella cranii, nor 
postorbital and frontosquamosal arches; premaxillary single; 
nasals two; frontals two; parietal single, very large; quadratum 
very oblique or nearly horizontal, owing to the shortness of the 
post-coronoid part of the mandible; occipital condyle frequently 
divided. Vertebree very numerous, depressed, all except the fore- 
most without spinose processes. Pectoral arch imperfectly developed 
in Chirotes, reduced to minute rudiments in the other, limbless, 
forms; pelvic arch reduced to minute rudiments. Worm-like, 
adapted to subterranean life; eyes concealed under the skin; mouth 
small, frequently inferior; no ear. Head covered with symmetrical 
plates; skin divided into soft squarish segments forming regular 
annuli, Tail short. 
The shape of the skull varies considerably according to the genera; 
in this respect Blanus appears to be the least specialized, although 
the occipital condyle is divided, while it remains single (kidney- 
shaped when seen posteriorly) in the otherwise more specialized 
Acrodonta. The mandible especially undergoes the greatest modifi- 
cations, as may be seen from Gervais* and Peters’s+ accounts of 
Blanus, Amphisbena, Lepidosternon, Monopeltis, and Agamodon. 
All the members of this family are burrowers, and many live in 
ants’ nests. They bore narrow galleries in the earth, in which they 
are able to progress backwards as well as forwards. On the ground 
they progress on a straight line, by slight vertical undulations, not 
by lateral movements, as in other limbless reptiles; the tail of many 
species appears to be more or less prehensile. The food of these 
Lizards consists of small insects and worms. Little has been pub- 
lished on ther habits, and all that is known on their mode of par- 
turition is that Anops kingit is oviparous, and deposits its ova in 
ants’ nests. 
* Ann. Sc. Nat. xx. pls. xiv. & xv. 
t+ Reise n. Mossamb. iii. pl. xiii. a; Sitzb. Berl. Ac. 1882, pl. x. 
