302 



KEPTILES. 



[Chap. IX. 



Professor Peters of Berlin \ shorter in the female than 

 in the male. It does not terminate in a point as in 

 other snakes, but is truncated obliquely, the abrupt 

 surface of its extremity being either entirely flat, or 

 more or less convex, and always covered with rough 



THE UROPELTIS PHILIPPIC US. 



keels. The reptile assists its own movements by press- 

 ing the rough end to the ground, and from this peculiar 

 form of the tail, the family has received the name of Uro- 

 peltidce, or " Shield-tails." Within a very recent period 

 important additions have been made to this family, 

 which now consists of four genera and eleven species. 

 Those occurring in Ceylon are enumerated in the List 



1 Peters, Be Serpentum familia Uropeltaceorum. Berol. 4. 1861. 



