صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

pursuers to despair of success in taking it. It flew unweariedly, turned with the rapidity of a butterfly, and alighted and rose again as readily as that active insect. It is a male and mature.

Head 8.

Plecotus homochrous, mihi. Snout to vent 1 inches. Tail 1. Expanse 10. Weight less oz. Ears from anteal base 14. From posteal 13. Arm 13. Forearm 17. Mid finger 28. Femur §. Tibia. Planta and nails, Colour, uniform obscure brown. Fur, silky and short, internally black, externally brunescent above, flavescent below, but obscurely in both cases. Membranes dusky brown. Iris saturate brown. Head depressed. Nose medial, depres sed, with a central groove in both skin and scull. Nares, angulo-elliptic, large, supernal, with a swollen margin. Lips simple. Eye prominent, large for a true Bat, and nearer ear than snout. Forehead not raised. Ears enormous, 2 of head, elliptic, nude, transversally striolate. Anteal edge of helix, half reflected, flat, smooth, and ending below in a sacculus and salient knob. Inner ear narrow, pointed, erect, with a small basal process for tragus, answering which is a small internal antitragus. Ears remote, low down, touching with proximate edges over the forehead, but not united there. Tongue simple and not extensile. Teeth 221. 4:4. Wings ample, the membrane commencing from shoulder almost, and taking in the wrists, first phalanx of thumb, and the metatarse as well as tarse, and enveloping all the long tail. Thumb 3 jointed. Index 1. Mid-digit 4. Annular and small each 3. Tail 7 jointed, long and pointed, the mere tip free. No teats traceable on chest or groin. Intestines 5 inches, thin coated and fragile, wider above, gradually narrowing. No cœcum. membranous, hemispheroidal, with terminal orifaces. 13 by inches along greater and lesser arches.

HABITAT.-Central region of sub-Himalayas.

Stomach

REMARK. Nearly allied to Auritus, but differs therefrom by disunited ears, fewer molars, a flat inner ear, shorter fur, and nude ears, besides its more uniform colour. The joints of the digits also differ, showing how little dependance can be placed upon this mark which yet Cuvier, Geoffroy and H. Smith make the corner-stone of their general classification of the Family!

I subjoin a synopsis of the several species thus far ascertained.

[blocks in formation]

* N. B. This is an undescribed species with the general structure of labiata, but distinguished remarkably by having the entire legs and caudal membrane clad in the fur of the body, which is thick and woolly. Colour bright rusty above, sooty below; the hairs tipt hoary. Digits rusty. Membranes blackish. Snout to rump 2 inch. Head 3. Ears . Tail 1. Expanse 13 inchs. Arm 13. Forearm 14. Long finger 34. Head depressed. Eyes and ears remote. Eyes small. Ears moderate rounded. Inner ears spire-shaped. Nostrils lateral-salient. Cheeks tumid. Thumb with 3 joints. Index with 2. Mid with 4 and a cartilaginous appendix. Annular and small digits each with 3. Tail ample, 7 jointed, and nearly square. Teeth all remarkably blunt. Penis with a corneous tip ending in two horn-like crura. Helix posteally with a sacculate reduplication, but no prolongation towards the gape as in labiata. Intestines 74 inches. No coecum. Stomach hemisphe

roidal with terminal orifaces.

CATALOGUE OF REPTILES

Inhabiting the MALAYAN PENINSULA and ISLANDS,

Collected or observed by THEODORE CANTOR, Esq., M. D., Bengal Medical Service.

(Continued from No. CLXXX.)

OPHIDIA.

INNOCUOUS SERPENTS.

FAM. TYPHLOPIDE, GRAY.

BURROWING.

GEN. PILIDION, Duméril and Bibron.

Head covered with shields, cylindrical, very short, as if truncated, convex above, declivous in front; muzzle rounded; rostral shield like a large rounded cap covering the head and muzzle; an anterior frontal, a frontal, a pair of supra-orbital-, ocular-, nasal-, and fronto-nasal shields; neither parietals, inter-parietals, nor præ-orbitals; nostrils hemispherical, under the muzzle, between the nasal-and fronto-nasal shields; eyes excessively small, hidden by the ocular shields.

PILIDION LINEATUM, (Boie.)

SYN.-Acontias lineatus, Reinwardt, MS.

Typhlops lineatus, H. Boie.

Typhlina, Wagler.

Typhlops lineatus, Gray in Griffith, A. K.

Typhlops lineatus, Schlegel.

Pilidion lineatum, Duméril and Bibron.

Typhlinalis lineatum, Gray : Catal.

Ground-colour pale gamboge or orange, uniform on the head, the apical third of the tail, and the abdomen; interrupted on the back and sides by 12 longitudinal, serrated brown lines, produced by a minute. triangular spot on each side of the scales.

HABIT. Pinang Hills.

Java, Sumatra, Singapore.

A single individual, captured by Sir William Norris, differs from the description given by M. M. Duméril and Bibron in the comparatively

greater dimensions of the tail. It is strongly arched; its length equals twice the breadth of the head; it is covered with 16 transversal series of scales, and it is considerably thicker than the rest of the uniformly cylindrical body. The anterior frontal shield is very broad, larger than the frontal. It was of the following dimen

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Circumference of the trunk inch; of the tail g inch.

GEN. TYPHLOPS, Schneider.

Head covered with shields, depressed; muzzle rounded, covered above and beneath by the rostral shield; an anterior frontal, a frontal, a pair of supra-orbitals, one or two pairs of parietals and inter-parietals; a pair of nasals, fronto-nasals, præ-orbitals and oculars; nostrils lateral, hemispherical, opening in the suture between the nasal and frontonasal; eyes lateral, more or less distinct; pupil round.

TYPHLOPS NIGRO-ALBUS, Duméril and Bibron.

SYN.-Argyrophis bicolor, Gray: Catal.

Shining black above; on the head some transversal and radiating whitish yellow lines; scales of the back edged with white; beneath whitish yellow.

HABIT. Pinang Hills, Singapore.

Sumatra.

This species is closely allied to T. diardi, Schlegel,* an inhabitant of Assam and the Khassia Hills. Of two individuals observed, the larger was of the following dimensions.

[blocks in formation]

Circumference of the trunk inch, of the tail 1 inch.

* SYN.-T. diardii, apud Dum. and Bibr.-Argyrophis horsfieldii, Gray : Catal.

TYPHLOPS BRAMINUS, (Daudin.)

SYN.-L'Orvet lombric, Lacépède.

Anguis. Rondoo Talooloo Pam. Russell, I. Pl. 43.
Punctulated Slow-Worm, Shaw.

Eryx braminus, Daudin.

Typhlops rondoo talooloo, Cuvier.

Tortrix russelii, Merrem.

Cuvier.

Typhlops braminus, apud Fitzinger.

Gray in Griffith, A. K.

Typhlops russellii, Schlegel.

Typhlops braminus, Cuvier, apud Duméril and Bibron.
Argyrophis bramicus, Gray: Catal.

Shining copper-coloured, or brown of various shades above, paler beneath. Some individuals of a uniformly bluish white. All the scales with a dark brown spot at the anterior part. The shields of the head have a whitish line close to their margins. In the young the latter is crenulated, and the sides of the head, lips, throat, the anal region, and the point of the tail are yellowish or whitish, and the body is semitransparent.

HABIT. Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula.

Canton-Province, Philippines, Guam (Marian Isles,) Java, Tenasserim, Bengal, Assam, Coromandel, Ceylon, Malabar. In the Malayan countries this species is numerous in hills and valleys. The eyes are black, the pupil round, which is also the case in T. nigro-albus. The largest of a great number examined was of the following dimensions :

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

Circumference of the neck 4 inch; of the tail inch.

The preceding species of this family are all of similar habits. They mostly live under ground, but appear occasionally in shady places, particularly after showers of rain, in Bengal, in the rainy season. They are very agile, and appear to make use of the horny point of the tail as a propeller. When taken, they frequently press it against the hand in their attempts to escape. Reposing on the ground Typhlops bra

« السابقةمتابعة »