94. niosyiiNA. 247 



mandibular teeth few, very small, equal. Head not distinct from 

 neck ; snout much depressed, projecting, with angular horizontal 

 edge ■ eye rather small, with vertically subelliptic pupil ; nostril in 

 a semidivided nasal, a horizontal suture extending from the nostril 

 to the loreal ; prset'rontal usually single. Body cylindrical, short ; 

 scales smooth or keeled, with apical pits, in 15 or 17 rows. Tail 

 short, ending in a horny spine ; subcaudals in two rows. 

 Tropical and South Africa. 



Synopsis of the Species. 



I. Scales smooth. 



A. Two internasals ; two superposed anterior temporals. 



1. sundevallii, p. 247. 



B. A single iuternasal ; a single anterior temporal. 



1. Third and fourth or fourth and fifth upper labials entering 



the eye ; two or three postoculars. 



Width of the frontal not half the width of 



the head ; subcaudals 50 2. frontalis, p. 248. 



Width of the frontal more than half the 



width of the head ; subcaudals 19-34 . . 3. ambigica, p. 248. 



2. Second and third upper labials entering the eye ; ono 



postocular 4. meleacfris, p. 249. 



II. Scales keeled 5. jani, p. 249. 



1. Prosymna sundevallii. 



Temnorhynchus sundevalU, Smith, III. Zool. S. Afr., Repf.,App, p. 17 



(1849) j Peters, Man. Berl. Ac. 1867, p. 2.S5. 

 Rhinostoma cupreum, Ounth. Cat. p. 9 (1858). 

 Temnorhynchus frontalis, part., Peters, I.e. p. 236, pi. — . fig. 2. 



llostral very large and broad, with sharp horizontal edge, usually 

 in contact with the prsefrontal ; a pair of internasals, separated from 

 each other or in contact with their inner angles ; prsefrontal single 

 (rarely divided) ; frontal large, more than half the width of the 

 head, considerably longer than the parietals ; loreal square or rather 

 deeper than broad ; one prse- and two or three postoculars ; tem- 

 porals 2 + 2 or 2+3 ; usually seven upper labials, third and fourth 

 entering the eye (rarely eight, fourth and fifth entering the eye) ; 

 only one pair of well-developed chin-shields. Scales smooth, in 15 

 rows. Ventrals 125-169; anal entire; subcaudals 23-38. Pale 

 brown above, each scale edged with darker; head yellowish, with a 

 more or less distinct dark brown band between the eyes and a large 

 dark brown cresccntic blotch bordering the parietals posteriorly ; two 



