Annals of the Transvaal Museum. 
91 
Acontias. 
1. Snout obtusely rounded , projecting ; fourteen to twenty scales 
round middle of body ; three supraoculars. 
(a) First supraocular nearly as large as or even a trifle larger than 
the two others together ; a single very large preanal plate. Olive 
brown above, yellow below; or yellow or pale-brown above, each 
dorsal scale with a dark-brown spot, which may unite to form 
six or eight longitudinal bands. A. meleagris L. 
(b) First supraocular appreciably larger than the two others together. 
Uniform blackish. A. plumbeus Bian. 
2. Snout cuneiform, much depressed, flat injeriorly, and strongly pro- 
jecting ; fourteen scales round the body ; two supraoculars, or sometimes 
only one. A. lineatus Pet. 
(a) Whitish, with black lines following the longitudinal series of 
scales. lineatus S. str. 
(b) Brown, with a purplish band across the hinder part of each 
dorsal scale. Var. grayi Boul. 
ScELOTES. 
The limbs with five digits ; twenty-two scales round the body ; lower 
eyelid with an undivided transparent disk; interparietal broader than 
the frontal. Olive-brown above, each scale anteriorly edged with greenish- 
white ; lower surface greenish-yellow. S. capensis Smith. 
Limbs with three digits ; eighteen scales round the body ; third finger 
much shorter than second. Silvery grey above, each scale darker in the 
centre ; a whitish black-edged lateral band, commencing on the snout 
and passing over the supraoculars. * S. tridactylus Boul. 
Twenty scales round the body ; third finger equal to the second. 
Olive-green, paler beneath. Scales dotted with black at the base. 
* S. caffer Pet. 
Fore limbs absent ; hind limb with two minute-clawed digits, or 
occasionally with only one claw ; supranasal in contact with the first 
labial ; lower eyelid transparent ; eighteen scales round the middle of the 
body. Pale-brown above, the scales speckled with black ; usually a 
dark-brown streak on each side of head, passing through the eye and 
continued along the side of the body as two lines of brown dots. 
S. bipes L. 
Hind limb a bud-like rudiment, without claw ; twenty scales round 
the middle of the body ; supranasal separated from the first labial by a 
post-nasal (see note) ; lower eyelid scaly. Pale-brown above and on the 
sides ; each scale with a dark-brown dot ; belly brownish-white, immacu- 
late. * S. guentheri Boul. 
No trace of limbs externally ; supranasal in contact with the first labial ; 
four supraoculars, the three anterior ones subequal and in contact with 
the frontal ; tail slightly longer than the body. Pale-brown, each scale 
with a dark-brown dot, which is very small on the back, large on the belly, 
largest on the sides. S. inornatus Smith. 
* See note. 
