Page:Natural History, Reptiles.djvu/168

160 consists of ants, termites, and other minute animals; and they are said to inhabit the earthy nests and hills of these industrious insects, through which their slender cylindrical bodies and polished scales enable them to burrow with great facility. They are oviparous, laying eggs in such situations, which are very large in proportion, and covered with a parchment-like skin.

The Family contains but a small number of species, which are, however, scattered over the tropical regions of both hemispheres.

In the genus Typhlops are comprised a few Serpents, so small as to resemble earthworms in appearance, which are clothed with small overlapping scales, broader than long, very closely applied. They have the muzzle somewhat advancing beyond the lower jaw, and covered with broad plates; the tongue is rather long and forked like that of the true Serpents; the eye, minute and point-like, is scarcely or not at all visible externally. The body is slender, cylindrical, terminating very abruptly; the vent is close to the extremity. One lung is four times as large as the other.

Species of this genus are found in the warm regions of both continents, and in the large tropical islands. We shall describe that which has come under our own personal notice in Jamaica, where it is popularly known as the Two-headed Snake (Typhlops lumbricalis, .) In this species, which has been by some zoologists ranked as a genus, under the title of Argyrophis, the