Contents: Preface. Introduction: i. What are caecilians? ii. Gymnophiona in the taxonomic system. iii. Classification of Gymnophiona. iv. The Indian perspective. 1. Material and methods. 2. A review of literature on the taxonomy of Indian Gymnophiona. 3. Morphology and terminology. 4. Distribution. 5. Habits and habitats. 6. Life history. 7. Abbreviations. Taxonomic treatment: i. Key to orders of Class Amphibia. ii. Order Gymnophiona. iii. Classified list of Gymnophiona of India. iv. Key to families of Indian Gymnophiona. v. Family ichthyophiidae. vi. Genus ichthyophis Fitzinger. vii. Key to species of Genus Ichthyophis of India: 1. Ichythyophis beddomei Peters. 2. Ichythyophis bombayensis Taylor. 3. Ichthyophis garoensis sp. nov. 4. Ichythyophis glutinosus (Linnaeus). 5. Ichythyophis husaini sp. nov. 6. Ichthyophis longicephalus Pillai. 7. Ichthyophis malabarensis Taylor. 8. Ichthyophis peninsularis Taylor. 9. Ichthyophis sikkimensis Taylor. 10. Ichthyophis subterrestris Taylor. 11. Ichthyophis tricolor Annandale. Family: Uraeotyphlidae. Genus Uraeotyphlus Peters. Key to species of Genus Uraeotyphlus of India. 12. Uraeotyphlus interruptus sp. nov. 13. Uraeotyphlus malabaricus (Beddome). 14. Uraeotyphlus menoni Annandale. 15. Uraeotyphlus narayani Seshachar. 16. Uraeotyphlus oxyurus (Dumeril and Bibron). Family caeciliadiae. Key to genera of family Caeciliaidae of India. Genus: Indotyphlus Taylor. 17. Indotyphlus battersbyi Taylor. Genus: Gegeneophis Peters. Key to species of Genus Gegeneophis of India. 18. Gegeneophis carnosus (Beddome). 19. Gegeneophis fulleri (alcock). 20. Gegeneophis krishni sp. nov. 21. Gegeneophis ramaswamii Taylor. Summary and conclusions. Bibliography. Addenda.

From the preface: "The objectives of this study are three fold: bring together all the taxonomic information available on Indian Gymnophiona by studying the preserved materials that lie scattered in various institutions in India; attempt fresh collections to supplement the rather meagre material that is presently available; describe and illustrate existing species, erect new taxa if necessary, document their distribution, and present a treatise on the Indian Gymnophiona at the alpha-taxonomy level. It is hoped that this work shall serve to inspire further research on this ancient and unique group of apodous amphibians. A chapter on "Morphology and Terminology", outlining the external morphological characters which have a bearing on their taxonomy is included here to assist such work."