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Show 1881.] MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON PERSIAN REPTILES. 673 is very rarely the case in the animals I have collected : the keels the ventral scales are sometimes faint; and in one or two instances they are nearly or quite obsolete in old females ; but as a rule they can be seen with ease. I find, however, on examining the specimens in the Paris Museum, that the ventral scales have for the most part lost their epidermis, and, with the outer coat, the keel has disappeared ; whilst on one of the specimens procured by Olivier himself, on a small portion of the breast the epidermis remains, and a faint, but perfectly distinct keel can be traced on each scale. There are, however, in the Berlin Museum two specimens of an Agama from Persia, distinguished from the common form by being more depressed, by having smooth ventral scales, and by the smaller size of the body-scales generally, there being 80 to 85 round the body, whilst in the common Persian form there are only 70 to 75. In consequence of the want of keels on the ventral scales, these Lizards were supposed by Dr. Peters to be the true A. agilis. I think, however, it is clear, from the evidence already stated, that the larger-scaled form, with keeled ventral scales, is the species described by Olivier. The depressed small-scaled Lizards may perhaps be a very aberrant variety; but they look like a distinct species. It is as well, before proceeding further, to mention that the development of the keels on the scales is not the only variable character. There is much variation in the number of spinose scales at the side of the neck and behind the ear, and, indeed, in the extent to which the scales of the upper parts generally are " mucronate " (i. e. terminate in a spine posteriorly). There are sometimes, as stated by Dumeril and Bibron, two rows of poriferous scales in front of the vent, sometimes only one, whilst in females the pores are small or absent. Whether Trapelus fiavimaculatus of Riippell is the same Lizard, I should be loth to decide without seeing the types. There is nothing in the description adverse to the union of the forms. In the figure the shape of the head is represented as very different; but this may be a mistake. The flatter shape of the body and the absence of prseanal pores may indicate, if the species be the same, that a female has served as the type. It is as well to note that in Riippell's description the scales of the lower parts are said to have the keels only faintly indicated, whilst on the back most of the scales are stated to have a little point projecting behind, which appears as the end of an inconspicuous keel. This exactly defines the usual condition of the scales in adult females of the Persian Lizard. The specimen in the British Museum labelled A. fiavimaculata from Arabia, however, is not, I think, the same as A. agilis. It is a more depressed form, resembling Trapelus ruderatus in shape; and the scales of the back and sides are slightly unequal in size l, 1 Peters (Monatsb. Akad. Berlin, 1869, p. 66) states that Trapelus fiavimaculatus, Eiipp., is the same as Agama savignii, Audouin, and is distinguished from the true A. agilis by more or less distinctly keeled scales on the lower parts (after what has been stated above, this distinction cannot be considered sufficient), and by the scales behind and below the ear-orifice being larger and less numerous. |