No. 39. — 1889.] ZOOLOGICAL TABLES. 



195 



the eye may be grouped, such as rat-snakes, tree-snakes, wart- 

 snakes, and sea-snakes, then all previous zoological arrange- 

 ments and nomenclatures will have to be abandoned 

 throughout the animal kingdom. Nor is it possible to see 

 the reason for this course. Family VII., Colubridce, might 

 just as well have been called a series, or cohort, or legion, or 

 received a simple letter or number, and the old family nam es 

 as far as he considered them natural, retained. 



There can be no doubt that the Calamaridce area thoroughly 

 natural family, forming a transition between the burrowing, 

 snakes and the ordinary forms. Their muzzles are pointed, 

 and the head forms quite a part of the body. The tail, how- 

 ever, tapers, and ventrals are present ; there are two parietals. 



Lycodontidce, Nos. 15 and 16. — As in ordinary snakes, the 

 body is flexible throughout, which, with the exception of the 

 python, is not the case in the previous families. Ventral 

 shields are developed, there is a mental groove, and no 

 rudiments of hind limbs ; but they have a fang-like tooth 

 in front of the maxillary, and there is no elongate posterior 

 tooth. No. 16, L. carinatus, seems to me to belong to quite 

 a distinct genus to No. 15, L. aulicus. As the table shows it 

 is a very peculiar form. Dr. Gunther placed it in the genus 

 Gercaspis. 



Colubridce, Nos. 17, 18, 19, 24 to 26, 29 to 33.— Ordinary 

 snakes, with no fang-like teeth in front or middle of upper jaw. 

 The dentition of No. 19, A. calamaria, is very peculiar, and 

 may possibly make it necessary to found another family for it ; 

 but I do not know to what extent this dentition extends 

 amongst snakes. No. 33, H. schistosus, has a single internasal,. 

 but it is so obviously and closely related to Nos. 30 and 31, 

 T. stolatus and T. asperrimus, that it cannot be separated 

 from them. It is a link between the Colubridce and the 

 Homalop sides. 



Oligodontidce, Nos. 20 to 23. — Small colubrids, rather rigid, 

 in which the rostral is very large and produced backwards. 

 A perfectly natural family, and easily recognisable. 



Dendrophidce, Nos. 27 and 28. — Very slender, long-headed 



