65 



as broad, four or five times as long as the eye, which is 

 small and surrounded by a rudimentary circular lid, its dia- 

 meter is contained four to four and a half times in the dis- 

 tance between the nostril and the orbit ; ear-opening small, 

 oval, oblique. Snout covered with lo — 13 small irregular plates, 

 back of head with small scales. Rostral pentagonal, a little 

 more broad than long, on the lower surface of the snout; nasal 

 small; two or three large supra-oculars; 17 — 22 upper labials, 

 3 rows of small scales between them and the orbit; 18 — 22 

 lower labials ; mental more long than broad ; on each side of the 

 throat a series of larger scales, separated from the labials by 

 two or three rows of small scales. Twenty- 

 two scales round the middle of the body ; ^ 

 the enlarged ventrals in 90 — 105 pair. Six 

 to eight praeanal pores, in an angular series ; 

 5 or 6 anal scales (fig. 41). Small rudiments 

 of external hind limbs. Tail long, one time 

 and a half as long as head and body, or 

 longer still, tapering to a fine point, covered 

 below with transversely enlarged scales. Fig. 41. Liaiis jicari 



Pale yellowish or pinkish brown above, ^^^'- ^'^^^ P''^"^"'''' 



111 -1 111-1 1 r • 11 pores: six anal sca- 



speckled with a blackish colour ; a taint dark j^^ ^ 

 vertebral streak ; a well-defined dark brown 

 dorso-lateral streak, expanding anteriorly into a broad band 

 occupying the side of the head ; a light streak along the lower 

 lip, widening on the body, where it forms a band, which is 

 ill-defined above and sharply defined by a dark line below. 

 Belly dark grey-brown, or yellowish with dark longitudinal 

 streaks, of which one along the middle is the most distinct. 

 Length of head and body 307 mm.; tail about 500 mm. 



Habitat: New Guinea (Tanah-Merah Bay!, lake Sentani!, 

 Fly river, Bogadjim on Astrolabe Bay). L«.Wi-.^ , Hw«vv ^^ 



Mehely describes a specimen of Liaiis burtoni Gray, col- 

 lected at Erima, Astrolabe Bay '), which has 22 scales round 

 the body, two supra-oculars and 6 praeanal pores. Its tail is 

 one time and a half as long as head and body; length of head 

 and body is 270 mm.; tail 423 mm. This specimen probably 

 belongs to the species Liaiis jicari, as described by Boulenger. 

 In different Museum-collections more examples of the latter 



i) Termes. Fuzetek XXI 1898, p. 167. 



INDO-AUSTRALIAN REI'TILKS I. 



