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Show 642 MR. STANLEY S. FLOWER ON THE [May 16, Dr. E. Haase " Physignathus cochinchinensis, Siam," I consider to be really P. mentager. Hab. Cochinchina. 68. LIOLEPIS BELLII (Gray). Liolepis bellii, Cantor, p. 41 ; Blgr. Cat. Liz. i. p. 403. LJolepis belliana, Blgr. Fauna Brit. Ind., Rept. p. 156. Liolepisguttatus,W. Davison, J. S. B. R. A.S. 1889,pp. 88 & 190. Siamese. " Tooa-yaa." For brilliancy and beauty of colour few animals can vie with this lizard. Although Cantor was such an admirable observer of natural history, it seems probable that when he wrote of this lizard " leaping from branch to branch," it was conjecture or what he had been told of its habits, and not what he had actually seen ; for, on the authority of Theobald and Davison, we know that it is terrestrial and a burrower, and Mr. Ridley has told me the same and also that it frequents sandy localities, where it makes its burrows. Personally, I have not seen its burrows, but when coming on an individual among a grove of bushes it made off by running on the ground, instead of climbing into a bush as the arboreal Agamoids do. It is diurnal, and in spite of its rather heavy build can run very quickly (as Cantor also remarked). Some classes of Siamese and Laos eat this lizard, and esteem it a delicacy. Localities. Province Wellesley (Cantor), Kalantan and on the Rumpin River in Pahang (Davison); and I have seen specimens from three places in Siam-Pakpreo, Anghin, and Cbantaboon. Colour (in life). The following description is of a specimen from Pakpreo (which, it will be seen, differs somewhat from Cantor's Province Wellesley specimens):- Upper surface of head, neck, body, and limbs yellowish olive-green, a few small yellow spots on the neck; the back has very distinct black-ringed, round, bright yellow spots, on the posterior part of the body these spots coalesce to form a dorso-lateral line of yellow and black ; the fore limbs are indistinctly spotted with yellow and orange, the hind limbs very distinctly spotted with yellow. The sides of body are rich dark blue, with about eight large and several small bright orange-red spots ; below the dark blue and orange the sides are bright lemon-yellow, which merges gradually into the pale grey of the belly. Lips aud sides of head pale blue-grey, with very faint orange spots. The underneath of head, neck, body, and limbs very pale blue-grey. On the fore part of the thigh and on the upper surface of the foot are patches of bright cobalt-blue. Tail yellowish olive-green above, with numerous minute yellow spots ; the sides are a lighter, brighter green and immaculate ; the lower surface is very pale yellowish green. Size. The Pakpreo specimen, above described, measured in total length 338 m m . (snt. to vnt. 120; tail 218). A specimen from Anghin was larger, having snout to vent 152 mm., but a broken tail. |