153 



between the anterior border of the eye and the ear; nostril 

 round, in the middle between the tip of the snout and the 

 orbit; teeth sharp, compressed. Head-scales small, those on 

 the supraocular and temporal regions smallest. Body covered 

 with small, oval, feebly keeled scales. Ventral scales smooth, 

 in 65 — 75 transverse series. Tail round, about one time and one 

 third the length of head and body, without a keel, covered 

 with keeled scales. Limbs and digits strong. 



Olive, yellowish or blackish above, with a black network 

 or spotted with yellow; a black streak on the temples; tail 

 with black transverse bands. Lower parts lighter ; throat dotted 

 with black. Length of head and body 250 mm.; tail 340 mm. 



Habitat: Savu ; Rotti; Samao!; Timor!; Batjan?'). — 

 Islands of Torres Straits; N. Australia. 



7. Fam. Lacertidae. 



Body long and slender, covered with juxtaposed or imbric- 

 ate scales. Ventral scales large, in longitudinal and transverse 

 series, different from the lateral scales. Head with large sym- 

 metrical shields. Tongue flat, bifid at both ends, with imbric- 

 ate papillae or oblique plicae (fig. 1.5); pleurodont. Eye with 

 round pupil and well developed eyelids; ear distinct. Limbs 

 well developed, pentadactyle. Femoral or inguinal pores often 

 present. Tail long, fragile. Most of them are terrestrial; ovi- 

 parous or viviparous; the eggs have a parchment-like shell. 



One genus reaches as far eastwards as the Indo-Australian 

 Archipelago. 



I. Tachydromus Daudin. 



(Daudin, Hist. Rept. Ill p. 251, 1802). 



Head-shields consisting of: a frontonasal, a pair of prae- 

 frontals, a frontal, a pair of frontoparietals, a pair of parietals, 

 an interparietal and an occipital. Nostril bordered by two 

 nasals and the first labial. Lower eyelid scaly. Collar more 

 or less distinct. Back covered with large, rhomboidal, keeled 

 shields, forming longitudinal series; flanks granular; ventral 

 shields rhomboidal, imbricate, all keeled or partly so. Digits sub- 

 cylindrical, compressed, with smooth, tubercular lamellae below, 



i) See Werner, Zool. Jahrb. Syst. XXVIII 1910, p. 286. 



