. Cave vertebrates of America; a study in degenerative evolution. Cave animals; Heteropygii. 48 BLIND VERTEBRATES AND THEIR EYES. RHINEURA HABITS OF RHINEURA. Rhineiira fioridana Baird is a legless, burrowing, blind Amphisbaenian lizard. It is abundant in some parts of Florida. The largest individual secured by the author measured 340 mm. The tail is very short, flattened dorso-ventrally, and the upper surface of its distal half is strongly rugose. Each of the transverse rings is here, with numerous tubercles. The mouth is small; the tip of the lower jaw is some distance behind the
. Cave vertebrates of America; a study in degenerative evolution. Cave animals; Heteropygii. 48 BLIND VERTEBRATES AND THEIR EYES. RHINEURA HABITS OF RHINEURA. Rhineiira fioridana Baird is a legless, burrowing, blind Amphisbaenian lizard. It is abundant in some parts of Florida. The largest individual secured by the author measured 340 mm. The tail is very short, flattened dorso-ventrally, and the upper surface of its distal half is strongly rugose. Each of the transverse rings is here, with numerous tubercles. The mouth is small; the tip of the lower jaw is some distance behind the tip of the upper jaw. In shape, color, and arrange- ment of its dermal plates it strikingly resembles an earthworm. This resemblance is heightened by its vermiform progression through the rhythmic movements of its annular plates. Its forward and backward locomotion in its burrows is entirely due to this vermiform movement. It burrows rapidly, and for this its small, hard, conical head is well adapted. The point of the snout is turned down and the head then thrust upward in a rooting fashion. An individual will readily dis- appear in from half a minute to two minutes. By placing it in a glass vessel partly filled with earth its burrowing can readily be seen from below. If placed on a bare surface, it for a time will wriggle actively from side to side, snake fashion, but without much effect as far as locomotion is concerned. The tail, under such cir- cumstances, is dragged behind, as if it had no vital connection with the head. Rarely there is a suggestion of a bracing with the tip of the tail against the floor. In one minute an individual moved 250 mm. In an attempt at rooting, after the snout had become wedged under the edge of an immovable object, the whole body to the tip of the tail was repeatedly lifted off the floor. Rhineiira is, as far as known, one of the two blind vertebrates that have been found in the fossil state. Baur described a species of Rhineiira (R. hatchcrii
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