86 Mr. Gray on new Reptiles from Australia, 



XL — Description of some new Species and four new Genera 

 of Reptiles from Western Australia, discovered by John 

 Gould, Esq. By J. E. Gray, Esq., F.R.S., &c. 



To the Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 



Gentlemen, 

 Mr. Gould having kindly placed in my hands the collection 

 of Reptiles which he made during his visit to New Holland 

 to gather materials for his ^ History of the Birds of Australia,^ 

 I have sent you the description of the following species, which 

 appear to be new to science. The two r.ew genera are very in- 

 teresting ; the one, Ronia, being exactly intermediate in orga- 

 nization between the two-legged and the four-legged Seines ; 

 and the other, Moloch, for its extraordinary appearance and 

 grotesque forms. 



I may remark, this collection contains two specimens of 

 Soridia lineata, Gray, which MM. Dumeril and Bibron have 

 accused me of erroneously describing as an Australian animal. 

 (See ^ Erpetologie Generale,' v. 787-) I believe that this has 

 arisen from M. Bibron supposing all the Reptiles that he saw 

 at the Chatham Museum to be from the Cape of Good Hope ; 

 whereas that collection is very rich in Australasian Reptiles. 

 Chelomeles of MM. Dumeril and Bibron appears to be very 

 nearly allied to Soridia, and should most probably be arranged 

 with it in the family of Rhodonidce. 



Mr. Gould's specimens of Delma having enabled me to ex- 

 amine more minutely the characters of that genus, I am now 

 convinced that it should be referred to the family PygopidiS. It 

 chiefly differs from the genus Pygopus in the small size of the 

 rudimentary feet and in the absence of the pre-anal glands. 



The genus Lialis, which heretofore has been placed with 

 Pygopus, appears to be the type of a new family. It, Delma 

 and Pygopus are all found in Western Australia, as is also the 

 genus Aprasia, which ought, in my Catalogue of Slender- 

 tongued Saurians (Ann. Nat. Hist. vol. i. and ii.), to have been 

 arranged with the Apodal Seines. On examining Mr. Gould's 

 better-preserved specimen, I am inclined to consider it also 

 as the type of a family characterized by the shields of the head 

 and the position of the nostrils, to which, most probably, MM. 

 Dumeril and Bibron's genus Brachymeles will also have to be 

 referred. These genera will then range thus : — 



Fam. LiALisiD^ : — Lialis. 



Fam. PYGOPiDiE : — Pygopus, Dehna. 



Fam. Rhodonid^ : — Rhodona, Soridia, Chelomeles. 



Fam. Aprasiad^ : — Aprasia, Brachymeles. 



