218 < SAURIA. 



Pam. scincidae. 



The Seines and allied genera, which constitute the present family, 

 have a fusiform or subcylindrical body, a rounded back, without either 

 a dorsal crest or raised spines, or folds on the sides, and terminated 

 by a cylindrical and tapering tail ; it is covered with smooth, keeled, 

 or striated and imbricated scales. The abdomen is protected by scales 

 similar in shape and structure to those of the back. The limbs are 

 generally four in number : two anterior and two posterior, more or less 

 developed ; sometimes, one pair only exists, and occasionally none at 

 all. The fingers and toes are subjected to considerable variations in 

 number and development. The neck is continuous with the chest. 

 As to the head, it is subquadrangular, regularly shielded, or plated. 

 The nostrils are lateral. The tongue is free, flattened, not sheathed, 

 slightly emarginated anteriorly, with its surface entirely or partly 

 papillar ; generally, the papillae are scale-like ; sometimes, a portion 

 only are scale-like, whilst the others are filiform. The maxillary teeth 

 are, generally speaking, slender and acerated; sometimes tuberculous. 

 The palate is either toothed or toothless. The eyes are either distinct, 

 wanting, or hidden under the skin ; when they are distinct, they pre- 

 sent either a double or a single lid. 



When the eyes are wanting or hidden, we have the group of 

 Typhlophthalmians ; when they exist and present a double lid, we 

 have the Saurophthalmians, and when the eyelid is single, the 

 Ophiophthalmians. Of the first named group no specimens were 

 collected by the Expedition. 



Syn. — Sclncoides, Oppel, Kept. Prodr. 1811, 20. 



Scincoidea, FiTZ. Neue Class. Kept. 1826, 23. 



Scincoidiens, Cuv. Eegn. Anim. ii, 1817, 52 ; &, 2d ed. II, 1829, 85.— CocT. Tab. 

 synopt. Scincoid. in Compt. Rend. Acad, des Sc. IV, 1837, 14. — DuM. & Bibr. Erpet. 

 gen. V, 1839, 511. 



Scincidae, Gray, Ann. Nat. Hist. II, 1839, 287 ; Catal. Lizz. Brit. Mus, 1845, 70 ; 

 &, Zool. Ereb. & Terr, vi, 1845, 6. 



Scinci, WiEGM. Herp. Mex. I, 1834, 11. 



Lepidosaures, DuM. & Bibr. Erp^t. gen. V, 1889, 511. 



Obsery. — The Seines are cosmopolite in their distribution, and ex- 



