ERYX JACULUS. 211 



the sides of the head, the front, and lower part of the 

 muzzle very convex, the upper portion being quite flat ; 

 the upper jaw is much longer and broader than the lower ; 

 the eyes distinctly visible through the plates which cover 

 them; scales hexagonal on the anterior portion of the 

 body, on the hinder half four-sided ; along the body are 

 twenty-one rows, and on the tail twelve transverse rows of 

 scales. The upper surface is tawny, sometimes mottled 

 with bright brown ; the lower regions dull white. 



Entire length, 10 inches ; tail, about ■£ inch. 



Feeds on worms and small insects. 



Obtained by the French Scientific Expedition in the 

 Morea and the Islands of the Greek Archipelago. Ob- 

 served at Tiflis, in Georgia, and in the Peninsula of Sinai, 

 in Arabia. 



Genus ERYX. 



Nostrils lateral, situated between the internasal and the 

 nasal plates ; head covered with scales, excepting on the 

 muzzle, where there are one or two pairs of plates ; scales 

 of the back more or less distinctly tectiform or keeled ; 

 subcaudal plates entire ; tail short and thick ; muzzle a 

 sort of snout, narrowed and wedge-shaped, adapted for 

 penetrating sandy soils. In general appearance resembling 

 the Boas. Lives under stones and dead leaves, feeding on 

 worms, slugs, lizards, and other small animals. 



Eryx jaculus. 



Eiryx jaculus, Dum. et Bib. vol. vi. p. 463. 



Eryx turcica, Schinz, Europ. Faun. vol. ii. p. 38. 



Description. — The end of the muzzle is wedge-shaped, 

 encased in the rostral plate as in a sheath ; tail subcortical, 

 not angular, as in some other species, very blunt at its 

 extremity, which is encased in a large scale ; the scales of 



