OCR Text |
Show 1881.] ON LACERTA AND ACANTHODACTYLUS. 739 impregnated, hut that a specimen got on the date above mentioned was in preparation to receive the semen. I recommenced m y labours the following year on August 12, and completed them on September 29. These specimens I also forwarded, through m y father, to Professor Owen, who found two examples impregnated, one killed on the 30th of August and the other on the 14th of September, a report of which cases he read before the Royal Society in April 1880. Unfortunately, a specimen got on September loth, which I delayed dissecting until next day, produced a young one during the night, but in the morning was in too decomposed a state to preserve. It is therefore evident that in this part of Queensland the proper time to get an impregnated specimen of the Echidna with the young in the uterus is in September and October. I was under the impression, through m y earlier observations, that the males do not go with the females after the copulating season; but this is not the case; I am sure, however, that after impregnation the females go away by themselves, and do not mix with the males until after the young is born. I am of opinion that neither the young males or females have any sexual intercourse until their second year, as I have many young males with their testes in a dormant state and young females with the ovaries unexcited. Also, from observation, I am led to believe that the females only breed every second year, as many of m y older specimens were not impregnated nor in any way prepared to receive the semen. 3. On the Lizards of the Genera Lacerta and Acanthodactylus. B y G. A. B O U L E N G E R . [Eeceived May 31, 1881.] (Plates LXIIL, LXIV.) Thirty-five years have elapsed since Gray's ' Catalogue of Lizards ' was published ; and a great number of the species therein described still remain objects of difficulty to herpetologists. This is due chiefly to the shortness and ambiguity of Gray's diagnoses, which do not allow of the identification of his species, nor give an exact idea of their affinities. "With regard to the family Lacertidse, no one has as yet attempted to make out the species enumerated in the ' Catalogue of Lizards.' Whilst engaged in naming some Lacerta and Acanthodactyli, I recognized the necessity of going through all the species of these two genera ; and I have the pleasure of laying before the Zoological Society the result of this work. Beside the species contained in Gray's Catalogue, I have also taken notice of those described since by Dr. Gunther. This paper, therefore, is a critical account of all the species of Lacerta and Acanthodactylus represented in the British Museum. |