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Show 678 MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON PERSIAN REPTILES. [June 7, scribed forms of the genus Scincus. These are S. meccensis1 from Arabia, S. hemprichii2 from Massowa, on the Abyssinian coastland, and S. mitranus 3, supposed to be from Arabia. Of these, S. hemprichii, the type of the subgenus Pedorychus of "Wiegmann, is evidently quite distinct, having a rounded canthus rostralis, the ear-opening very narrow and concealed by a scale, the nostrils differently shaped, and striated dorsal scales. S. meccensis is said to differ from S. ofiicinalis in having five superciliary shields instead of six, the dorsal scales in sixteen longitudinal series instead of eighteen, the supralabials seven, of which the fifth and sixth are beneath the eye, whereas in S. ofiicinalis there are eight, the sixth and seventh below the eye-and in coloration, there being two or three rufous dusky spots on each side above the shoulders. I am inclined to doubt whether these characters are of specific value. In the unpublished figures made for Hemprich and Ehrenberg's ' Symbolse Physicse,' tab. iv. fig. 3, the prsefrontal is shown to be in contact with the rostral. Scincus mitranus was described from a single dried specimen. It is stated to differ from S. ofiicinalis in the form of the snout4, in the head-shields, and in coloration. The prsefrontal is in contact with the rostral, as in S. ofiicinalis. There are five superciliaries, as in (S1. meccensis, two loreals, and eight supralabials. Each scale is said to have a white spot in the centre of its free margin, with a brown spot on either side. This is occasionally the case in S. ofiicinalis, though more frequently a brown spot is in the middle of the scale. There are ten vertically elongated, more or less rounded, deep-red-brown spots along the side from the middle of the neck to above the thigh. Similar spots are seen in S. meccensis, though they are less numerous, being confined to the anterior portion of the side; and they may be merely a modification of the transverse bands often found in (S. ofiicinalis. OPHIDIA. *CATACHL^ENAS DIADEMA, var. Heterodon diadema, Dum. et. Bibr. Erp. Gen. vii. p. 779. Simotes diadema, Gunther, Cat. Col. Sn. B. M. p. 26. Chatachlein diadema, Jan, Icon. Oph. livr. 10, pi. vi. fig. 2. Simotes (Chatachlein) diadema, Botteer, Jahresber. Senck. naturf Ges. 1878-79, p. 61. Bushi, 25 miles south of Bushire. The only specimen procured differs from the typical Algerine form of C. diadema in having two preeoculars instead of three, in the 1864Wie44 aDn' ArCh" f' Nat' 1837' L P' 12? ; Peter8' Monat8b* Akad.' Berlin, a^s^^is^ Both tMs ^the *«*** ^- 3 Anderson, Proc. Asiat. Soc. Beng. 1871, p. 115. 4 Might not this have been distorted by being dried ? 5 I venture to suggest that this may be an improved form of the name proposed by Jan. Etym. Kara and x\aiva, a mantle (<caraX\aiJ,6w, I clothe)? |