192 DR. N. ANNANDALE ON 



The wound had healed, leaving a distorted stump ; but the animal seemed in no way 

 inconvenienced. There were no signs of new growth in the stump. 



The natives of different parts of India have many superstitions regarding the Chame- 

 leon. The Hindus and Muhammedans of Ramanad regard it as being possessed by an 

 evil spirit, and will not touch it lest the spirit should enter their own bodies. Like most 

 Anglo-Indians they confuse it to some extent with Lizards of the genus Calotes, but they 

 regard it as specifically distinct from the Lizards. 



Typhlops braminus var. arenicola, var. nov. 



Differs from the typical variety in being slightly stouter, in having a shorter spine at 

 the tip of the tail, and most notably in colour. The ventral surface is white (in spirit) and 

 each scale on the dorsal surface is faintly tinged with buff, those on the head being faintly 

 vermiculated with the same shade. In life the whole animal is of a pale flesh-colour, due 

 to the blood seen through the almost pigmentless integument. 



I think I am right in regarding this form as a variety of the common T. braminus l 

 although it has more the appearance of a specimen of T. diardi which has been bleached 

 in spirit by exposure to strong light. It has been, however, a matter of extreme difficulty 

 to detect the limits of the scales on the heads of this and the two other almost colourless 

 forms described, even when various staining agents were used. The present form certainly 

 has, as have also the other two, a completely divided nasal, and the scaling of its head closely 

 resembles that of T. braminus. Possibly it should be considered a distinct species; but I 

 do not feel confident on this point. The three specimens obtained have each 20 scales 

 round the body. They are distinguished from T. accedens by the greater relative girth. 



This form apparently lives in the sandy soil prevalent at Ramanad, but I was not 

 so fortunate as to find an example myself, the examples examined having been procured 

 for me by native boys. 



Very little seems to be known regarding the habits of even the common species of 

 Typhlops, I have taken specimens of T. braminus in leaf mould, in the rotten wood of fallen 

 trees in the jungle, under stones on dry soil in an open wood, and crawling on the floor 

 of a house in Calcutta. One of the attendants at the Indian Museum lately brought me 

 a piece of sugarcane which he had peeled with the intention of chewing it. It must 

 have grown, judging from its girth, at a considerable height above the ground, and 

 it was traversed vertically by the burrow of some caterpillar. The caterpillar had 

 disappeared, but the burrow was occupied by a specimen of the common Typhlops. 

 I kept this specimen alive for some days in an insect cage in which some caterpillars had 

 lately pupated, and was surprised to see it swallowing their excreta. It used the spine at 

 the tip of its tail in maintaining a grip of any object round which it coils itself very much 

 in the same way as T. acutus uses its beak. 2 



1 During the last year specimens of the following species have been brought to the Museum from Calcutta and its neighbour- 

 hood \—T. braminus, T. diardi, T. porrectus, and T, acutus ; the last most frequently. The pigmentation of normal specimens of 

 T. braminus from the same locality is somewhat variable, and in var. arenicola, judging from an individual taken during the 

 rains at Ramanad by the Rev. A. D Limbrick, the colour of the dorsal surface may be a more deeply suffused with buff than it 

 is in the types of the variety. (March 8th, 1906 — N. A.) 



2 See Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 1905, p. 209. 



