88 Mr. Gray on new Reptiles from Australia, 



of the pores may entirely depend on the manner in which they were 

 .preserved, for all these specimens had a slit made into their abdo- 

 men to admit the spirits ; while in all specimens in which this care 

 had not been taken the pores are distinctly seen, sometimes mode- 

 rately sized, and sometimes tubularly produced. 



Grammatophora Decresii, Dumeril and Bibron, Erp. Gen. iv. 472. ? 

 Tail conical, with nearly regular scales ; the base rather swollen, 

 without any series of spines on the side ; back with small sub- 

 equal scales and a few larger ones in cross series ; the nape and 

 back with a series of rather larger, low, compressed scales ; side 

 of the head near the ears and side of neck with two or three 

 ridges crowned with short conical spines. In spirits black, yel- 

 low spotted and varied, beneath gray, vermiculated with black- 

 ish ; tail black-ringed. 

 Inhab. Western Australia. 



This species is so much smaller than G. muricata, that I might 

 have considered them as young animals if one of them had not had 

 the body filled with well-formed eggs ; and the tail is much shorter 

 than in the young of that species. 



The specimens agree in most points with the description given by 

 MM. Dumeril and Bibron, but not in the colour and the size of the 

 tail. The specimens in this collection greatly differ in their colour, 

 but are all very different from any other species. 



Grammatophora muricata, Cuvier. The young animals have a 

 series of small spines on each side of the base of the tail, and a 

 series of spots on each side of the back. 



Mr. Gould has brought home two very distinct local varieties. 



Var. 1. Diemensis. Young dark- coloured, with vermiculated marks 

 on the chin, chest, and abdomen. The adult dark, beneath gray, 

 varied with black spots placed in irregular lines. 



Inhab. Van Diemen's Land. ^ 



Var. 2. Adelaidensis . Young pale above and beneath, with three 

 broad diverging black lines on the chin, leaving an oblong spot 

 in the centre of the throat, with a broad streak on the chest 

 separated into three lines on the abdomen, which unite together 

 again on the pubis. The adult gray, with a few spots beneath. 



Inhab. Adelaide, Western Australia. 



Moloch, Gray. Fam. Agamidse. 



Body depressed, covered with irregular, unequal, small, granular 

 plates, each furnished with a more or less prominent central 

 spine, and with a series of large, conical, convex, acute spines ; 

 head and limbs covered with similar scales and spines ; head 

 small, with very large spines over each of the eyebrows ; tail 

 with irregular rings of large acute spines ; femoral and subanal 

 pores none; teeth small, subequal; toes 5* 5, short, covered above 

 and below with keeled scales ; claws long, acute. 

 The external appearance of this Lizard is the most ferocious of any 

 that I know, the horn of the head and the numerous spines on the 



