ONYCHOCEPHALUS DELALANDII. 
siderably larger. Eye situated in the ocular plate, in an angle formed by 
the junction of the posterior edge of the supraocular and preocular plates, 
nearly directly under the hinder edge of the rostral plate. The upper extre- 
mity of the ocular plate terminates in an angle formed by the supraocular 
and parietal plates ; the scales of the upper lip three or four pairs, narrow 
and elongated. Vide Plate LIV. figs. 1 to 4. The tail is very short, conical, 
and towards the point curved downwards. The scales of the body are 
small, rather broader than long, each somewhat six-sided. On the body 
they are disposed in twenty-nine longitudinal rows. 
This reptile is pretty widely distributed over the southern parts of Africa, and is generally 
found under large stones and trunks of decayed trees, or in soil broken up by the plough, or 
otherwise displaced by the spade or the pick-axe, as often happens in digging up shrubs and 
dwarf trees for the purpose of clearing ground for cultivation. When it is exposed to view, it 
endeavours to conceal itself under whatever is nearest to it, and if unsuccessful it rolls itself into 
a mass, and remains quiet unless seized, when it immediately endeavours to escape. 
The nose in this species is more produced than in any of the others yet known ; and the 
prominent cutting edge of the rostral plate gives to it, when viewed laterally, a much more 
pointed appearance. 
