The Hijlory ^ANIMALS. ioi 
» 
It is frequent in New Spain, and has been met with about the fettlement of the 
Dutch at Surinam. 
Ccecilia rugis profundiorihus nonaginta et o£lo» 
The Ccecilia , with ninety-eight deeper rugce . 
This is a fmall fpecies, but is very fingular in it’s figure : it’s body is fomewhat flat- 
ted j the back appearing deprefled, the belly but little prominent, and the fides round¬ 
ed $ the head is alfo deprefled, but is fhort, and almoft rounded j the upper lip hangs 
over the jaws all the way round the opening of the mouth, and has two fhort* 
fomewhat thick, and truncated tentacula growing to it : the oppofite extremity of the 
animal does not go off into a tail, but is, as it were, truncated and obtufe • the colour 
of the whole animal is a pale brown, with fome flight admixture of tawny in it: the 
belly is a little paler than the back : there are no fcales, nor any other armature on it, 
only a tough {kin, which is tolerably fmooth on the back and belly, but has a num¬ 
ber of deep, oblique furrows, forming fa many wrinkles at the fides: it moves but 
languidly ; it's food is worms, and other fmall infeds, and young frogs. 
It is frequent in many parts of New Spain, 
Ccecilia rugis numerofijfimis, capite angujliore. 
The Ccecilia , with very numerous rugce , and a narrow head 1 
This grows to about fifteen inches in length : the head is fmall, narrow^ and fome¬ 
what deprefled; the upper lip is prominent beyond the reft of the mouth, and forms 
at the extremity a kind of point: the tentacula are very fhort, but thick and truncated; 
the body is rounded ; the back very convex, and the belly flatted but little: the hinder 
extremity is truncated, and gives no appearance at all of a tail: the colour of the 
whole animal is a dufky livid-blue, with an admixture of grey and of black ; it is 
paleft on the underfide: the back and belly are almoft fmooth, but the fides have a 
vaft number of flight wrinkles, which run almoft ftraight up toward the back; they 
are deepeft and plaineft toward the middle, and grow fo faint toward the extremities, 
particularly toward the head, that they are not eafily counted. I counted more 
than an hundred and forty of them, on a fpecimen preferved in fpirits, the only one I 
have feen. I purchafed this among the others of the late Duke of Richmond’s Mu- 
faeum, and remember it’s having been fent, about fix years ago, to his Grace from 
Georgia. 
There is but one other known fpecies, the black, fhort Caecilia, with eighty-two 
rugs. 
AMPHISBJENA. 
T H E body of the Amphifbasna has a number of circular annuli, furrounding it 
from the head to the extremity of the tail; fo that it feems compofed of a num¬ 
ber of narrow and fomewhat rounded rings, applied clofe to one another, and having 
deep furrows between them. 
Amphijhcena annulis corporis ducentis et viginti fiex y caudee fedecim. 
The Amphijhcena, with two hundred and twenty-fix annules on the body , and 
Jixteen on the tail . 
This is a very fingular and extraordinary Serpent, and has at firft fight much of the 
appearance of a monftrous earth-worm : it’s length, when full grown, is two feet and 
a half; it s thicknefs is very confiderable, the diameter being more than an inch : the 
body is almoft round, only that the belly is a. little flatted, as is alfo the back, but 
very flightly, as it approaches the tail j the fides are as it were inflated: the head is 
obtufely triangular, broad, flatted at the bafe, and continued thence to a fome¬ 
what obtufe point at the extremity : the mouth is large, and the upper jaw fome¬ 
what hangs over the other; the whole head is covered with a firm, whitifh fkin, 
with a flignt tinge of a yellowifh-brown, and has feveral irregular, tranfverfe, and ob¬ 
lique iurrows on it both above and below : immediately behind the head begin the 
annules or rings of the body; but the two or three firft of them are obliterated on the 
upper furface, fo that they are moft diftindly counted on the belly: the colour is a 
D d very 
