DRACO. 123 



The trunk is rather slender, covered above and below with ^'ery small, more or less dis- 

 tinctly keeled scales. Large spaces on the wings are naked, and separated from one another 

 by stripes of minute scales. The tail is long, slender, tapering to a point, not fragile ; we 

 liave never seen a Dragon in which the tail had been reproduced, nor, indeed, with this 

 member mutilated. Perhaps the tail is necessary for their peculiar locomotion, in which 

 case its loss would soon prove fatal to the animal. The limbs are slender, each provided 

 Avith five, clawed, thin and long toes. Their length varies a good deal in the different 

 species, and is a very important character for their distinction. 



Cantor says that " the transcendent beauty of their colours baffles description. As the 

 lizard lies in shade along the trunk of a tree, its colours at a distance appear like a 

 mixture of brown and grey, and render it scarcely distinguishable from the bark. Thus it 

 remains with no signs of life except the restless eyes, watching passing insects, which, 

 suddenly expanding its wings, it seizes with a sometimes considerable unerring leap. The 

 lizard itself appears to possess no power of changing its colours." These beautiful colours * 

 disappear almost entii-ely in spirits ; there remain, however, certain markings of dark colour, 

 which are of much greater importance for distinction of the species than those variable and 

 perishable iridescent tints which are common to all the species. 



From three to four ovate, whitish eggs are very frequently found in the females ; they are 

 three-eighths of an inch long. Almost all the species attain to the same length, viz. 7-8 

 inches, of which the tail takes one-half or rather more than one-half. D. quinquefasciatus 

 appears to be somewhat larger than the others. 



We give first a Synopsis of all the species of Dragons known, as we have had the oppor- 

 tunity of examining all of them, and proceed then to the descriptions of the new species and 

 of those found in British India : — 



I. Short-limbed Dragons, in which the length of the hind limb is less than the distance between the shoulder 

 and hip-joints. 



A. Nostrils lateral, directed outwards. 



a. Tympanum naked. 



1 . Dorsal scales as large as the upper labial shields ; no orbital spine. Throat dotted with browu ; wuigs 



black-spotted below : D. volans, p. 124. 



2. Dorsal scales as large as the upper labial shields ; no orbital spine. Throat reticulated witli brown ; 



wings uiiifomi whitish below : D. reticulatus, n. sp., p. 125. 



3. The scales of the three median dorsal series large, larger than the labials ; the middle series smooth, 



the two outer ones keeled, the keels being continuous : D. timorensis, Kuhl. 



4. Dorsal scales smaller than the upper labials ; a horn-like spine above the hinder angle of the orbit : 



D. cornutus, n. sp., p. 125. 



5. Dorsal scales smaller than the upper labials; no orbital spine: D. fimbriatus, Kuhl.t 



b. Tympanum scaly. 



6. An interrupted series of large keeled scales along each side of the trunk : D. maculatus, p. 125. 



* They wiU be more fully described under D. volans. 

 t Its occurrence in Singapore is more than doubtful. 



K 2 



