202 Annals of the South African Museum, 



meeting (males) or more or less widely separated when adpressed in 

 the adult, overlapping in the young ; foot f to once length of head ; 

 digits short, not or but scarcely compressed. Tail thick, swollen for 

 some distance behind the base in males, If to 2i times as long as head 

 and body. 



Nasals in contact behind the rostral ; frontonasal broader than long, 

 as broad as or broader than the internarial space ; praefrontals forming 

 a median suture which may be very short ; frontal as long as its 

 distance from the rostral or the end of the snout, 1-g- to If times as 

 long as broad, usually narrower, behind, than the supraoculars ; 

 frontoparietals much shorter than the frontal, usually shorter than 

 their distance from the posterior extremity of the pileus ; parietals 1 

 to I~ times as long as broad, outer border sometimes feebly emarginate 

 for the accommodation of the upper temporal ; interparietal narrow, 2 

 to 4 times as long as broad, sometimes divided into two ; occipital very 

 small, sometimes pushed back behind the pileus, or separated from 

 the interparietal by the parietals forming a short median suture. 

 Four supraoculars, first and fourth small, first usually * in contact 

 with the frontal ; 5 to 7 superciliaries, rarely 4, in contact with the 

 supraoculars, or one or two granular scales intervening between them 

 Two superposed postnasals, rarely one t ; anterior loreal ^ to f length 

 of second ; 4 upper labials J anterior to the subocular, which is usually 

 a little narrower beneath than above; an elongate upper temporal, some- 

 times very broad, sometimes narrow, often divided into two or three, 

 nearly always in contact with the fourth supraocular ; temple covered 

 with small hexagonal or granular scales, which are not or but little 

 larger than the dorsals ; a round or oval tympanic shield, rarely absent. 

 5 or 6 vertically enlarged scales in the middle of the lower eyelid. 



Parietal foramen usually absent. Pterygoid teeth present. 



Gular scales small, juxtaposed, increasing in size and imbricate 

 towards the collar, 23 to 30 in a straight longitudinal series ; no 

 gular fold. Collar feebly serrated, composed of 7 to 14 scales 

 (usually 8 to 10). 



Scales on body round or oval, juxtaposed, smooth, 34 to 41 across 

 the middle of the body, 2 or 3 on the side corresponding to a ventral 

 plate. Ventral plates in 8 longitudinal series, those of the second 



* In 17 specimens out of 24. 



f On both sides in a male from Van Reenen, on the right side in a male from 

 Damaraland. 



J Five on both sides in a male from Peri Bush, on the right side in a female 

 from Lessouto. 



Exceptions in a male from Peri Bush and in another from Barberton. 



