OCR Text |
Show (344 DR. J. ANDERSON ON REPTILES AND [June'18, the larger of Col. Yerbury's specimens, which was caught in the same locality, has the head and body 81 millim. long. In the former, the tail is recorded as having been 127 millim., whereas in the latter it is 201 millim. in length. In the smaller of the above examples, with the head and body only 53 millim. long, the tail is 148 millim., i. e. nearly 2 centimetres longer than that of the type, which had its body and head almost 20 millim. in excess of the former. These differences in the proportion of the tail to the body and head between the type and Col. Yerbury's specimen are doubtless due, not to variation, but to the tail of the former having been renewed. In Latastia the renewal of the tail is not marked by any prominent line of demarcation, as occurs in many other genera of Lizards. „ There are in all thirteen longitudinal bands along the body ot this lizard, counting the dark band external to the ventrals. The middle of the enlarged dorsals is olive-brown with a narrow yellowish line external to it, followed by a broad blackish band, with a narrow white band external to it, succeeded by a still broader black band with a white band below it, and lastly the less well-defined black band along the external ventrals. The upper surface of the head is olive-brown, and the limbs and tail olive above, the former being more or less black-spotted. The underparts are wdiite, with exception of the under surface of tbe tail which is yellowish. In the young the lineation is even more pronounced than in the adult aud the black predominates, and the posterior three-fourths of the tail are yellow, passing into orange-red at the tip. Q Snout to Tail Length Width Sex. vent ±au- of head. ot head. o 81" 201 17 10 6'.\ 53 148 12*3 9 Length of Length of Femoral Scales round Sex- fore limb. hind limb. pores. body. o 28 49 16 42 6\\ 20-5 36 14-15 47 The question arises whether Philochortus is distinct from Latastia, leaving for the present in abeyance the broader question whether Latastia is worthy of generic rank apart from Lacerta. The first character of the new genus is the presence of a shield separating the interparietal from the occipital. Mr. Boulenger, however, has pointed out that a shield, in the same position, is not unfrequently present iu Latastia longicaudata, Eeuss, and m y specimens from Suakin verify this and show, moreover, that the area around tbe interparietals and tbe occipital is the subject of variation, as portions become separated off from the former shields. In estimating, therefore, what value is to be attached to the presence of a small shield between the interparietal and occipital, such variations as tbe foregoing cannot be lost sight of, as they undoubtedly |