10 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



the bauds are broken into large rounded spots, five or six, which extend down- 

 ward into the series on the lower edge of the tail. Between the large spots on 

 the upper edge of the tail and those on the lower edge there are irregular smaller 

 spots of black. The belly to within a short distance from the vent is dingy yel- 

 lowish ; on the gular region there are several spots of brown. The peculiar color- 

 ation of this specimen represents an extreme phase of a variation from which, in 

 collections made in Panama and San Miguel, Colombia, for the John E. Thayer 

 Expeditions, we have the intermediates grading into the common black-backed, 

 yellow to brownish-yellow-bellied, spotted-tailed form, without lateral bands of 

 black or brown, common throughout Polynesia. This sea serpent was taken in 

 Lat. 26° 34' S. ; Long. 108° 57' W., about fifty miles northeast of Easter Island. 

 It has been directly compared with numerous specimens, from China, Gulf of 

 Siam, Singapore, Borneo, Java, Bay of Bengal, Society Islands, and Panama, with- 

 out discovery of characters on which to base so much as a variety. 



SAURIA. 



GBCCONIDAB. 

 Lepidodactylus lugubris. 



Figs. 1-6. 



Platydactylus lugubris D. & B., Erp. Gen., 1836, vol. 3, 304. 

 Lepidodactylus lugubris Fitzinger, Syst. Rept., 1843, 98. 



The Easter Island specimens of this little Gecko are ashy to light brownish- 

 gray. Whether intense or faint, the markings are distinct on all. The brown 

 band from the rostral plate through the eye to the shoulder is bordered above by 

 a white streak that is more distinct on the head behind the eye. Each of these 

 specimens has an elongate small spot of brown or black on the occiput. In most 

 cases there are small elongate spots of brown immediately above the limy bunch at 

 each side of the neck and above the shoulder. The usual pattern on the back 

 from behind the head to the thighs is made up of seven to eight transverse zigzag 

 streaks of brownish, each edged behind by a white one. These lines make a 

 sharp angle forward where they cross the vertebral line. Toward the hips the 

 border becomes darker or black, showing a series of black spots at each side of 

 the median line at the base of the tail, and the white bands become wider and 

 more distinct. In some examples the white band through the eye is more or 

 less faintly indicated along the entire flank, and is bordered above and below with 

 darker lines that start respectively from the top of the eye and from the ear. From 

 a point below the eye, above the angle of the mouth, a narrow light-edged streak 

 of brownish extends backward toward the throat. The head is light brown, mot- 

 tled with darker ; the labials, chin, and throat are whitish, freckled with light 

 brown. The tail has about ten transverse bars of white separated by light brown 

 bands, in each of which, at each side of the median line, a spot of black is com- 



