| OCR Text |
Show 1896.] BATRACHIANS OF THE MALAY PENINSULA. 873 35. VARANUS NEBULOSUS, Gray. Varanus nebulosus, Cantor, p. 27; Giinther, Rept. Brit. Ind. p. 66, pl. ix. fig. D ; Boul. Cat. Liz. ii. p. 311. Cantor obtained one specimen in the hills of Penang ; there are in the British Museum three specimens from Malacca from Mr. Hervey. Hab. Bengal, Burma, Siam, and Malay Peninsula. 36. VARANUS RUDICOLLIS, Gray. Varanus rudicollis, Boul. Cat. Liz. ii. p. 313. There is a specimen in the British Museum from Malacca from Mr. Hervey. Hab. Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Philippines. 37. VARANUS SALVATOR, Laur. Hydrosaurus salvator, Giinther, Rept. Brit. Ind. p. 67, pl. ix. fig. E. Varanus salvator, Cantor, p. 29 ; Boul. Cat. Liz. ii. p. 314; Boul. Fauna Brit. Ind., Rept. p. 166 (head fig. p. 162). Cantor says, " This species is very numerous both in hilly and marshy localities; Malayan Peninsula and Pinang." Stoliczka found it in the collection he got from Penang and Province Wellesley. Dr. Blanford found it in the collection he got from Dr. Dennys from Singapore. I saw many of these Lizards on the Kedah river in April 1895, and obtained one from Blakan Mati, Singapore, in January 1896. The English in India and the Straits Settlements call them "Iguana," and the Malays "Beyawh." The Chinese prize them highly for the supposed medicinal properties of the heart, liver, etc. These Lizards are generally infested with ticks, much resembling one of their scales in size and colour. A great part of their food seems to consist of the small crabs which abound on the mud of the mangrove swamps. In life they are very handsomely marked-black and bright yellow. The largest specimen obtained I shot in the Gunong Gajah tributary of the Kedah river. It was a male-Total length 2362 mm.; head and body 1041; tail 1321; girth behind forearms 470 ; girth round stomach 584. It is now mounted in the Reptile Gallery of the British Museum. Hab. Nepaul, Ceylon, China, Siam, Tenasserim, Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, Cape York. Family SCINCID^E. 38. MABUIA NOVEMCAHINATA, And. Mabuia novemcarlnata, Boul. Cat. Liz. iii. p. 179. This species was discovered by Dr. Anderson in Burma. It can now be added to the list of Malayan reptiles, as I caught a specimen near " the Crag," Penang Hill, elevation 2200 ft., in March |
