Zoology.'] NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. IReptiles. 



Plate 162, Fig. 2. 



PSEUDODELMA IMPAR (Fischer). 



Fischer's False Deljia. 



[Genus PSEUDODELMA (Fischer). Sub-kiugdom Vertebrata. Class Reptilia. Order 

 Sauria. Sub-order Leptoglossae. Tribe Geissosaura. Family Pygopidse.) 



Oen. Char, — Body and tail very slender, gradually tapering. Head moderate, tapering to 

 bluntly rounded snout. Gape wide. Only one pair of plates, meeting In middle, between nas.als 

 and prefrontal plate. Nostrils large, near anterior edge of nasals, which meet above ; ear- 

 opening oblique, moderately large. Eye with rudimentary scaly eyelid. Teeth very smiill, 

 numerous, blunt. Scales of body in longitudinal rows, until a little beyond base of tail, beyond 

 which the lateral rows extend abruptly, obliquely upwards and backwards from middle sub- 

 caudal row. No preanal pores ; two or three enlarged preanal scales. Posterior leg-flaps 

 very small, of two rows of scales. Australia.] 



Description. — Head narrow, semi-oval, bluntly rounded in front. Teeth very 

 numerous, very minute, blunt. Tong-ue flat, scaly, deeply notched at tip. Rostral 

 large, pentagonal or nearly triangular, about twice as wide as high, separating the 

 nasal plates, except at their posterior superior angles. Nasal plates large, sub- 

 trigonal or tetragonal, with a large nostril pierced near middle, meeting on the 

 mid-line above, behind the apex of the rostral plate, and .prolonged bnckwards nearly 

 as far as posterior edge of first labial below. Fronto-nasal plates large, quad- 

 rangular, meeting by longest side in middle of top of head, acutely pointed in front, 

 obtusely pointed behind, a narrow portion bent down on cheek, touching the first 

 of a series of six small plates over the second, third, and fourth labials, extending 

 from the nasal to the eye. One large, quadrate, antocular plate joining posterior 

 edge of naso-rostral on each side. Pre-frontal or inter-nasal plate large, heptagonal, 

 nearly as broad as long. Frontal plate heptagonal, longer than wide, acutely pointed 

 behind. Parietals large, with a band-like plate on outer posterior side of each, 

 with or without a small occipital plate between their posterior ends. Two rows of 

 minute scales round the orbit, and three vertical rows of slightly larger vertical 

 scales in front of it. Three supra-ocular plates joining two large temporal plates 

 by their upper edges. Upper labials seven, the fourth longer, but less deep, than 

 the others, underlying the eye, from which it is separated by a row of four or five 

 small scales, the anterior one of which supports the posterior two out of the three 

 vertical rows of small scales in front of the orbit. Chin plate moderate, rhombic. 

 Lower labials three, the first meeting below, behind the chin plate; second largest 

 also prolonged under sides of jaw, but not meeting in the middle; third twice the 

 length, but only one-fourth the depth of the other two. Body scales hexagonal, 

 imbricating, very smooth and glossy; two middle ventral rows wider than long; 

 length and width of the others more nearly equal ; fourteen or fifteen rows of scales 

 round the middle of body (the middle row, when fifteen appear, being frequently 

 absent for 'distances of sis or seven scales long, and re-appearing; when absent, 

 leaving only fourteen rows round the body). Leg-flaps covered with two rows of 

 three scales each, the whole being double the length of the enlarged preanal scales, 

 or nearly as long as three of the lateral scales. Scales on back of base of tail in 

 longitudinal rows as far as about the twelfth scale, beyond which the lateral rows 

 extend obliquely upwards and backwards, from the three larger inferior shields to 

 the one or two irregular dorsal rows in middle of tail; about fifty-one pairs of large 

 abdominal scales from hinder part of throat to vent, and about one hundred and 

 twenty-six transversely enlarged, hexagonal plates in median row beneath tail. 



[235] 



