18 
APPENDIX. 
red ; an indistinct yellow line extends along the back, and also two lines of small, dark brownish red 
spots, one on each side of the yellow line. Under parts pale straw-yellow, tinted with green. Abdo- 
minal plates 169 ; subcaudal scales 27 pairs. Length from nose to base of tail 7 inches; length of tail 
10 lines. 
Inhabits Kaffirland, to the eastward of the Cape Colony. This little snake, which would be 
classed as a Calcmaria by many naturalists, exhibits characters which, in my opinion, entitle it to be 
regarded the type of a new group. The form of the head, and more particularly of the nose, show it 
to be a burrowing reptile; and in its family is the representative of Onycliocephalw, Acontias, 
Atractaspis, &c. 
CHORISTODON, n. g. 
Ch. Gen. Maxillary teeth slender, rather long, and anteriorly closely set, the hindermost tooth 
longest, removed from the others, and enclosed in a membranous sheath. Palatal teeth small and 
numerous. Nostrils small and situated between nasal and frenal plates. Eyes very small; pupil 
circular. Plates of head nine ; two naso-rostral, two fronto-nasal, one frontal, two occipital, and two 
palpebral; the latter very small. No preocular plate. One postocular. Head of the same width as 
the body. Tail with two rows of scales beneath. Body and tail cylindrical. 
CHORISTODON CONCOLOR, n. s. 
Body slender, nearly cylindrical, and slightly tapered towards each extremity. Abdomen 
slightly flattened. Tail cylindrical and tapered to the point, which is armed with a subacute horny 
spine. Head the same width as body ; nose broad and arched ; upper surface of head slightly convex ; 
sides sloped ; nostrils very small, below the rostral canthus and opening outwards. Eyes very small, 
and much nearer the nose than the hindhead ; gape large. Rostral plate triangular ; naso-rostral and 
fronto-nasal plates four-sided, the former very small, and their outer side longest. Frontal plate sub- 
rhomboidal, the hinder portion most prolonged. Occipital plates five-sided ; palpebral plates very 
small, subtriangular, and form the snperio-posterior margin of the orbit. Nasal plate small and 
square; frenal plate subtriangular, the apex behind. No preocular plate, its place being supplied by 
the upper extremity of the third labial plate; postocular plate very small and triangular. Two pairs 
of narrow submental plates, the hindermost pair longest. Scales of body rather large, imbricate, six- 
sided, and arranged in 13 rows; the scales on the vertebral line subrhomboidal. Abdominal plates long 
■ transversely, and narrow longitudinally, the space between first plate and hinder pair of submental 
plates coated with subquadrangular scales. Colour of the upper parts of the head, the back, and the 
sides, greenish black, with a purple gloss ; of the under parts, pale blackish purple ; each of the 
abdominal plates narrowly margined posteriorly with livid white. Abdominal plates 134. Sub- 
caudal scales 38 pairs. Length from nose to anus, 6| inches ; of tail, 1 inch 1 line ; greatest diameter 
of body, 2 lines. 
Inhabits Kaffirland to the eastward of the Cape Colony. This snake will be regarded a 
species of Calamaria by naturalists who do not admit the propriety of minor subdivisions. I have 
not observed in any other reptile palpebral plates like those which exist in the species here described. 
CROTAPIIOPELTIS RUFESCENS, FiUinger, Systema Reptilium, fasc. primus, page 27, 1843. 
Coronella rufescens, Schley. Essai sur la Physionomie des Serpens, part descript, page < 2. 
Cohdjer rufescens, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. p. 113. 
