148 [August, 



from the middle of which project the two last phalanges, which are slender. In- 

 ferior surface of this disk covered with imbricate feuillets, for the most part, 

 arranged en chevron. A longitudinal band of large plates under the tail. (Dume- 

 ril et Bibron.) 



The Hemidactyles are divided by Dumeril and Bibron into two sections. 1, 

 the Dactyloperes, with thumbs, as it were, truncated, of which there are two 

 groups \, with entire subdigital laminse, and B_. with divided (echanchrees) 

 subdigitax laminae; and 2d, the Dactyloteles, or with five complete fingers nar- 

 rowed at the point. These are also divided into two groups A, the D. fissi- 

 pedes, and B. the D. palmipedes, the latter only having palmated fingers, and 

 comprising but two species, viz.: H. marginatus and H. sebffi; the former, or the 

 fissipeds, thirteen, inhabiting Malabar, (trisedrus.) Phillipines, Isle Maurice, 

 Bombay, (maculatus,) border of the Mediterranean, Toulon, Rome, Sicily, 

 Greece, Senegal. Trebizonde, Chili, Vera Cruz, Buenos Ayres, (vermiculatus,) 

 W. Indies, Cayenne, Brazil, Carthagena, Martinique, (mabouia,) Ceylon, 

 (Leschenaultii,) Bengal, Bombay, (Coctasi,) S. Africa, Indian Archipelago, 

 Madagascar, Isle of France, Ceylon, Amboina, Java, Timor, Marianne Islands, 

 (frenatus,) Otaheite, (Garnotii,) and Peru (Peruvianus.) 



Sect. Dactyloteles fissipedes, D. & B. (Five nails, fingers and toes free.) 



Hemidactylus formosus, nob. 



Char. Nine inferior labial plates, the two first the largest; mental plate 

 broad, triangular, immediately behind it two quadrangular plates, much smaller 

 than the mental; ten superior labials; 17 femoral pores on each thigh in the 

 males ; a broad dark colored blotch bordered with white, upon the back, extend- 

 ing in the form of a crescent to the posterior margin of the orbit ; three broad 

 quadrangular brownish blotches, margined with white, upon the back ; tail 

 banded with brown ; 9 or 10 rows of circular tubercles on each side of the me- 

 dian line of the body. 



Description. The head of this remarkable species is large, swollen at the 

 temples, presenting a marked depression along its middle. The nostrils are 

 situated immediately behind the rostral plate, a little above the first labial, and 

 are somewhat triangular in shape ; between them, and in contact, are two small 

 narrow plates, behind the rostral, with a smaller one intermediate ; the head is 

 covered with small granulations superiorly, the front with tubercles ; of the ten 

 superior labial plates, the first is the largest ; the inferior margin of the eyelid 

 passes beneath the globe of the eye, the superior above it, and is covered with 

 small granulations and rhomboidal scales, its external border denticulated ; body 

 and extremities robust, the former covered with granulations, with nine or ten 

 longitudinal rows on each side of the median line of circular tubercles ; elbows 

 and posterior surface of forearms covered with granulations ; arms anteriorly 

 and beneath with scales ; the fingers and toes are each provided with a nail, free ; 

 eight subdigital lamina; beneath the fourth finger ; no lateral membranes to the 

 body or tail. Chin and throat covered with granulations ; abdomen and under 

 part of extremities with quadrangular scales; 1*7 to 19 pores along the under 

 part of each thigh, in the males, none in front of the anus ; tail long and tapering, 

 much longer than body, (\\ inches,) presenting beneath a well-defined central 

 row of hexagonal scales, much broader than long, bordered on each side with 

 smaller scales irregularly disposed. 



Coloration. Ground color above dusky white, with a tinge of reddish brown, 

 the brownish red tints predominating; a large dark brown blotch upon the neck 

 bordered thinly with white, with crescentic prolongations reaching to the poste- 

 rior margin of the eye ; three broad transverse brown blotches (3 to 3 J lines) 

 upon the back, bordered with white, and separated from each other by inter- 

 spaces of about the same length as the blotches ; tail banded with brown above 

 and upon the sides. 



Dimensions. Length of head 7 lines ; greatest breadth 7 ; length of neck and 

 body to arms 2 inches 1^ lines ; length of tail 3 inches 4 lines ; total length 6 

 inches 4^ lines. 



