TAPAYA DOUGLASS I. 397 



4. Tapaya brevirostris, Grd. 



Spec. Char. — Head large, depressed; vertex slightly sloping forwards ; 

 snout abbreviated and rounded. Cephalic plates moderate. Occipi- 

 tal and temporal spines very short and subconical. Submaxillar 

 shields moderate and ridged. Labial plates moderate ; five poste- 

 rior lower ones largest, flattened, and projecting; the fifth being 

 pyramidal, and near the angle of the mouth. Anterior margin of 

 the auricular aperture serrated or denticulated. Mental scales 

 small and uniform; gular folds subgranular ; prescapular fold 

 minutely granular. Sides of the neck spinous. Abdominal scales 

 moderate, subrhomboid, posteriorly obtuse. Femoral pores small, 

 distant : the series from either side widely apart upon the inter- 

 femoral region. Tail of moderate length, broad and depressed at 

 the base, subconical and tapering posteriorly. Olivaceous-brown 

 above, with a quadruple series of black, posteriorly yellow edged, 

 spots ; beneath yellowish, unicolor, except the chin, which exhibits, 

 sometimes, small blackish spots. 



Observ. — This species resembles more T. douglassi than any other 

 of its congeners. Its abbreviated head, and, in fact, its entire physiog- 

 nomy, is suggestive of Doliosaurus platyrldnos, alluded to further 

 on, to which, however, it bears no close affinities. 



Log. — Plains of Kansas and Nebraska. 



6. Tapaya douglassi, Grd. 

 (Plate XXI, figs. 1-5.) 



Spec. Char.— Head large, depressed; vertex slightly declivous; 

 snout subconvex or rounded, subdepressed at the nostrils. Cephalic 

 plates moderate, very rugose. Occipital and temporal spines reduced 

 to small acerated cones. Submaxillar shields moderate and ridged. 

 Auricular aperture granular, subtubercular. or subdenticulated in 

 front. Labial plates moderate. Mental scales small and subequal ; 

 gular folds minutely scaly. Abdominal scales moderate, subrhom- 

 boid, posteriorly obtuse. Femoral pores distant : the series from 



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