206 Annals of the South African Museum. 



Nucras tessellata, part., Bouleuger, Cat. Liz., iii, p. 52 (1887) ; 

 Hewitt, Ann. Transv. Mus., ii, 1910, p. 112. 



Nucras tessellata, var. ocellata, Bouleug., Ann. S. Afr. Mus., v, 1910, 

 p. 475. 



Nucras delalandii, part., Hewitt, t.c., p. 111. 



Head small, slightly broader than deep, 1| to If times as long as 

 broad, its length 4 to 4 times in length to vent ; snout obtuse. 

 Pileus 24 times as long as broad. Body feebly depressed. Limbs 

 moderate, the hind limb reaching the wrist or the elbow ; foot as long 

 as the head ; digits feebly compressed. Tail tapering from the base, 

 1^ to 2| times as long as head and body. 



Nasals forming a short or very short suture behind the rostral ; 

 frontonasal broader than long, broader than the mteruarial space ; 

 praefrontals forming a short or very short suture ; frontal as long as 

 its distance from the end of the snout, l to If times as long as broad, 

 narrower, behind, than the supraoculars ; frontoparietals much shorter 

 than the frontal or than their distance from the posterior border of 

 the pileus ; parietals If times as long as broad, outer border some- 

 times emargiuate for the accommodation of the anterior upper 

 temporal ; interparietal narrow, 3 times as long as the occipital, 

 which may be broader or rudimentary and pushed back behind the 

 pileus ; parietals and interparietal shorter in proportion to their width 

 in the very young. Four supraoculars, first and fourth small, first 

 narrowly in contact with the frontal ; 5 or 6 superciliaries ; 2 to 4 

 small scales between the supraoculars and the superciliaries. Two 

 superposed postnasals ; anterior loreal barely half as long as second ; 

 4 upper labials anterior to the subocular, which is usually narrower 

 beneath than above ; an elongate upper temporal, in contact with the 

 fourth supraocular, followed by 2 or 3 smaller shields ; temple 

 covered with small hexagonal or granular scales, which are about as 

 large as the dorsals ; a round or oval tympanic shield. Lower eyelid 

 with 5 or 6 vertically enlarged scales in the middle. 



Parietal foramen and pterygoid teeth present. 



Griilar scales small, juxtaposed, increasing in size and imbricate 

 towards the collar, 27 to 36 in a straight longitudinal series ; no gular 

 fold. Collar even-edged or feebly serrated, composed of 10 to 13 

 plates. 



Scales on body oval, juxtaposed, smooth, 40 to 44 across the middle 

 of the body, 2 and 3 on the side corresponding to a ventral plate. 

 Ventral plates in 6 or 8 longitudinal series, those of the second series 

 from the median line the broadest, and 29 to 34 transverse series 



