I TYPHLOPS 57 



between nostrils, distinctly longer than wide below ; rostral little 

 more than one-third the width of head; nasals not in contact 

 behind rostral ; rostral reaching level of eyes ; prefrontal rather 

 large, narrowly in contact with frontal; supraoculars large, 

 their lower end not reaching eye; frontal slightly smaller than 

 prefrontal, about the same shape; parietals rounding, a little 

 broader than deep, smaller than supraocular; interparietal en- 

 larged; nasal not completely divided; suture issues from second 

 labial, then makes a backward deflection which widens the an- 

 terior part of nasal ; preocular narrowed at upper end, reaching 

 above level of eye but scarcely reaching below level of nostril, 

 abruptly widened below eye, its posterior suture with ocular not 

 crossing eye; nasal much wider than either preocular or ocular; 

 a small subocular scale below ocular in contact with second and 

 third labials; preocular touches second labial behind this inter- 

 calated scale ; ocular widens abruptly on a level with eye, and 

 extends higher than preocular; first labial elongate, second 

 higher and shorter, of nearly the same area, third very large, 

 three or four times as large as second, reaching to near the top 

 level of nostril, larger and higher than fourth labial (third la- 

 bial on one side is fused with subocular) ; 3 scales border ocular 

 behind; eyes very small but distinct; nostril comparatively large; 

 lower jaw very narrow, in its middle scarcely two-fifths the 

 width of head. Tail ends in a blunt spine ; 12 scales under tail 

 in a longitudinal line ; scales in 28 rows about body. 



Color in life. — Reddish brown above, the anterior part rather 

 more grayish brown ; the posterior two-thirds of body darker 

 brown; head distinctly marked with darker and lighter (usually) 

 curved areas; snout yellowish; below light yellowish, each scale 

 with a slightly darker area. 



Measurements of Typhlops nianilx Taylor. 



mm. 



Total length 280 



Tail ' , 5 



Width of tail 5.2 



Width of body 5 



Width of head 5.5 



Remarks. — This unique specimen was found in the collection 

 of the Santo Tomas University, Manila. The container was 

 labeled "Filipinas" with no indication as to the locality from 

 which it came. This species as characterized by the presence of 

 a subocular has no close affinity among other species of the genus 

 in the Philippines. It belongs to the division of the genus of 

 which Typhlops ater and T. inornatus are members, but difi'ers 



