OCR Text |
Show 468 ON THE LIZARDS OF SOCOTRA. [Apr. 5, shields with a row of granules along the outer edge only, one or two small shields in front and behind. Central occipital well developed, about as broad as the vertical and as large as a prseoccipital ; a small Fig. 2. Head of Eremias balfouri. posterior interoccipital. A large infraorbital shield, extending to the lip, with four supralabials on each side between it and the rostral. Ear-opening large, not toothed, but with an enlarged scale in front above; the scales of the temporal region are smooth, and slightly convex, those behind and below being larger than those in the middle and in front; the scales along the edge of the occipitals are variable. Usually 6 pairs of chin-shields, the first three pairs meeting in the centre, the fourth pair the largest. Shields of the back granular, rounded, convex, without intervening granules ; about 40 may be counted round the body, exclusive of the ventral shields. Scales of the tail arranged in rings and sharply keeled, except below, where they are smooth on the anterior half of the tail. There is a distinct fold beneath the throat connecting the ears. Collar nearly straight, generally of 7 or 8 large scales ; but they often pass gradually into smaller scales on the sides. Ventrals in about 30 (from 27 to 31) transverse rows between the collar and the groin, and in ten longitudinal rows, the outer row on each side being not more than half the size of the next, which is inferior in size to each of the six median rows. Prseanal shield as usual, rather variable in size, the scales around about equal in size to the ventrals. From 11 to 14 femoral pores on each thigh, the two series separated by a short interval in the prseanal region. Colour rather light rufous-brown on the middle portion of the back, bordered on each side by a narrow blackish band more or less broken up into spots, and then a pale rufescent grey band; below this, commencing from the eye and the upper part of the temple, is a broad blackish band on each side, speckled with white and mixed with rufous, especially in front; again, beneath this is a narrow light grey stripe from the upper labials through the eye and above the shoulder; and below this again there is sometimes a dusky band between the axils. The bands are gradually lost on the tail, the broad |