,100 8ATJEIANS.: 



Some of them, therefore, will have to be noticed as the different 

 families to which they belong are successively treated of; and 

 there will yet remain the curious serpentiform family of Am- 

 phisbcenidcB, which Dr. Gray refers to his grand series of Shielded 

 Reptiles {Cataphracta). 



The same naturalist divides the Leptoglossa into two tribes, 

 which he styles Geissosaura and Cyclosaura ; and, as constitut- 

 ing particular division of the former, he includes under it the 

 family Typhlopidce, which Dr. Giinther refers — as we have seen — 

 to the order of Ophidians. In the series of Geissosaura, the scales 

 of the belly and (almost always) of the back and sides are 

 quincuncial, rounded, and imbricate ; the tongue is narrow, short, 

 flat, and but slightly forked ; and the head is of a conical shape, 

 and is covered with regular shields. 



Of the families thus characterised, some only have distinct 

 eyelids, as the families Acontiadce, OpMomoridce, Sepsidce, and 

 ScincidcB ; while others have the eyelids rudimentary and the 

 eyes exposed, as the families LialisidcB, Aprasiadm, Pygopodidce^ 

 and Gymnopthalmidce. In the Acontiadce the nostrils are placed 

 in the enlarged rostral plate, with a longitudinal slit behind. The 

 form of the body much resembles that of our common Orvet, or 

 Blind-worm, and their limbs, when present, are so rudimentary 

 that they can aid little in locomotion. One genus, Acontias, is 

 without limbs, and the eyes are furnished with a lower lid, while 

 the upper eyelid is rudimentary. Of this, one species, A. meleagris, 

 inhabits South Africa; and another, A. Layardii, has been dis- 

 covered in Ceylon. The genus Nessia has four rudimentary 

 liAbs, and the rostral shield is large, sub-conical, and depressed. 

 In one species, N. monodactyla, the limbs are diminutive, the pos- 

 terior placed far apart from the anterior, all being very short, 

 weak, and undivided into toes. In another, N. Burtoni, each 

 foot is divided into three minute toes. Both species are peculiar 

 (so far as known) to Ceylon, and the habits of this family are 

 much the same as those of our common Orvet {Anguis fragilis) . 



The family of OpMomoridce is founded on a single genus and 

 species, Ophiomorus miliaris, which inhabits North Africa. As 

 remarked by Dr. Gray, this reptile seems to be intermediate to the 

 Acontiadce and the Scincida, and makes it appear as if the large 



