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. Abdominal
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 Calamaria 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 Onychocephalm, Acontias,
Atractaspis, Ac.
CHORISTODON, | 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 superio-posterior margin of the orbit. Nasal plate small and
square; frenal plate subtriangular, the apex behind. No preocular plate, its place beings 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.
CROTAPHOPELTIS RUFESCENS, Fittinger, Systema Reptilium, fasc. primus, page 27, 1843.
Coronella rufescens, Schleg. Essai sur la Physionomie des Serpens, part descript. page 72.
Coluber rufescens,' Gmelin, Syst. Nat.-p. 113. _
Inhabits most parts óf Southern Africa, but specimens are most easily obtained near Cape
Town and on the south-eastern coast.
LAMPROPHIS AURORA, Fitzinger, Systema Reptilium, fasc. primus, page 25, 1843. Coronella
Aurora, Sclileg. Essai sur la Physionomie des Serpens, part descript, page 75. Coluber Aurora,
Linn. Mus. Ad. Fr. i. page 25, t. xix. fig. 1. Seba, 2, t. lxxviii. fig. 3.
This snake occurs throughout Southern Africa, but nowhere in abundance. In the Colony it
is, from its moving much during the night, known, like Aspidelaps lubricus, by the name of Nacht Slang.
THELOTORNÏS, n . g. .
Ch. Gen. Head wider than the neck. Body slender, and much compressed. Maxillary teeth
slender, thinly set, rather long ; the hindermost longest, and grooved. One nasal, two frenal, one
preocular, and three postocular plates. - Nostril in nasal, plate. Pupil transversely oval. Scales .of
the body in oblique rows, laterally much imbricate Scales along vertebral line rhomboidal and carinated.
THELOTORNÏS CAPENSIS, n. s. “
Head long, rather narrow, quadrangular, and depressed ; nose broad, and anteriorly slightly
arched; upper surface of head, over each eye, rather prominent; sides, of head nearly perpendicular;
nostril small, between nasal and freno-nasal plates; eyes large, pupil transversely subovate ; neck considerably
narrower than the head. Body slender, compressed, and slightly thicker at the middle than
toward either extremity. Tail long, nearly cylindrical, tapered, and terminated by a fine homy spine.
Rostral plate semicircular ; naso-rostral.plates quadrangular, broadest behind; fronto-nasal plates five
or six sided ; frontal plate long and five-sided, broadest anteriorly, pointed posteriorly, the anterior side,
which is in contact with fronto-nasal plaites, transverse ; the anterior lateral side short, the posterior
lateral sides long, slightly curved, and.convergé to a point behind. Palpebral plate square, posteriorly
narrow almost pointed anteriorly; occipital plates four-sided, broadest anteriorly, arched externally,
and rounded-, posteriorly ; behind each occipital plate a large, irregularly, five-sided plate, and between
these one shaped somewhat like an hour-glass. Nasal, plate semilunar, or , somewhat pear-shaped, its
inferior extremity edged below by a process of the rostral plate, which at that part forms the margin of
.the upper lip ; freno-nasal plate small, narrow, and longitudinally longest; frenal plate subtriangular,
. the base behind. Preocular plate long and narrow, arched above, straight below, and widest anteriorly.
Postocular plates. three, quadrangular; two narrow plates behind the middle postocular plate, the
hindermost between the plate lying outside of hinder part of occipital-plate, and the plates of the upper
lip. Plates of upper lip eight, two forming the lower edge of the orbit ; plates of lowèr lip’nine or ten ;
the first submental plate long, narrow, and somewhat five-sided ; the other' four in pairs, thé first
pair large, quadrangular, and internally in contact; tlfe last pair long, subtriangular, and separated
from each other, by the intervention of smaller plates. Scales of the body, near the abdominal plates,
ovate and pointed,, those of the vertebral row distinctly rhomboidal, and carinated, thé intermediate ones
long, narrow, and obliqué at the point which is formed by the extremity of thé upper edge. They are
arranged in waved, transverse rows, 19 in each row, and the rows having each three more or less
distinct angles, one on each side,' towards abdominal plàtes, and one on the vertebral line, all laterally
imbricate, the mesial or inner portion of each scale.lying over the external portion of the one nearer to
the vertebral line. Scales of the tail large, six-sided, rather longer than broad, and scarcely imbricate.
Abdominal plates 162, long, much arched,- and without any indication of an angle towards their