63 



I. Lialis burtoni Gray. 



Lialis burtonii^ Gray, Proc. Zool, Soc. 1834, p. 134. 



Lialis biirtonii^ Boulenger, Cat. Liz. I 1885, p. 247 (s. syn.). 



Snout long, depressed, pointed, with angular canthus ros- 

 tralis, four or five times as long as the eye, which is small 

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

 meter is contained thrice in the distance between the nostril 

 and the orbit; ear-opening elliptical or roundish, oblique. 



Fig. 39. Lialis hnytoni Gray X 4- 



Snout covered with small plates, varying in number. Rostral 

 low, more than twice as broad as high, on the lower surface 

 of the snout; nostril in the posterior part of a nasal; three 

 supraoculars, median large; 13 — 17 small upper labials, separ- 

 ated from the orbit by 2 or 3 rows of scales, 12 — 16 lower 

 labials; mental rather large, pentagonal; on each side of the 

 throat a series of enlarged scales, separated from the labials 

 by one or two rows of scales. Nineteen to twenty-one scales 

 round the middle of the body; the enlarged 

 ventrals in 70 — 100 pairs. Four praeanal 

 pores, sometimes indistinct in females; 3 or 

 5 anal scales (fig. 40). Small rudiments of ex- 

 ternal hind limbs. Tail about as long as head 

 and body, tapering to a fine point, covered 

 below with transversely enlarged scales. 



Brown, grey, reddish or yellowish above, 

 variously marked or uniform. Length of 

 head and body 247 mm.; tail 270 mm. 



Habitat: Aru Islands; New Guinea 

 (Merauke!, Astrolabe Bay!, Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen, Paup, 

 Borepata, Kapa Kapa, Port Moresby, Haveri, Hula, Inawi, 

 Dinawa, St. Joseph's river District, Katow) ; Yule Island; 

 Valise Island. — Australia. 



This species varies exceedingly in colour. Boulenger has 



Fig. 40. Lialis burtofii 

 Gray. Four praeanal 

 pores; three anal sea- 

 les. X 5- 



