Zoology.'] NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. {Reptiles. 



Plate 152, and Plate 153 Fig. 2. 



PYGOPUS LEPIDOPUS (Lacep. sp.). 



The Pygopus. 



[Genus PYGOPUS (Pitzinger) = BIPES (Cut.) = HYSTEROPUS (Ddm. and Bib.). 

 (Sub-kingdom Vertebrata. Class EeptUia. Order Sauria. Sub-order Leptoglossse. Tribe 

 Geissosaura. Family Pygopidas.) 



Gen. Char. — Body sn.ike-like, long, slender, cylindrical, tapering. Anterior legs none ; 

 posterior legs represented by a flat, elong.ate, ovate, scaly appendage on each side of base of 

 tail, not divided into toes externally, but containing four rows of toe-bones. Pre-anal pores 

 distinct, large, numerous. Head short, truncate, rounded. Plates : of head large ; rostral 

 plate large. Nostrils lateral, circular, in lower angle of transverse baud-like nasjil plate ; two 

 or more pairs of supra-nns.al or fronto-nasal plates, like the nasals, over them ; inter-nasal or 

 pre-frontal plate large, with elongate frontal pl.ate behind it ; two large parietal plates and 

 one small occipit.al plate behind the posterior ends of the parietal plates ; two or three supra- 

 ocular, or temporal, plates on each side. Ears : drums exposed, ovate, distinct, oblique. Pupil 

 nearly circular, very broad, oval, erect. Eye-lids circular, rudimentary, scaly, immovable. 

 Teeth conical, pleurodont, simple in jaws, none on palate, whicli has a wide longitudinal furrow. 

 Tongue broad, flat, thin, scaly in front, velvety behind, rounded and notched at tip. Scales of 

 back sub-hexagonal, keeled ; ventral shields hexagonal, broad, two middle rows broadest ; sub- 

 caudal plates broad, in tliree rows, the middle one broadest. Scales of throat small.' Parietal 

 bones separate, premaxillary single, produced backwards between the nasals. Orbit separated 

 from frontal by junction of pre- and post-orbitals. Australia.] 



Description. — Head sub-trigonal, narrow and rounded in front; eye a little 

 nearer tip of snout than ear; canthus rostralis obtuse ; rostral plate large, about 

 twice and a half as wide as long, varying from pentagonal, where the middle of 

 the upper edge is raised in an angle between the nasals, to quadrangular where 

 the upper edge is straight; two transversely oblong nasal plates and two pairs 

 of nearly similar supra-nasal plate.s over them; nostrils round, in lower outer 

 angle of nasals, surrounded by first labial, nasal, and freno-nasal; two or three rows 

 of irregular polygonal plates on frenal region between nostril and eye; one (or two) 

 small fronto-nasal plates on each side in front of temporal plate; temporal, or supra- 

 ocular, plates three, the anterior largest, and posterior smallest; inter-nasal or anterior 

 frontal large, heptagonal, a little wider than long, and wider than the frontal, with 

 which its posterior edge forms a transverse suture, length about equal to the two 

 supra-nasals; frontal sub-pentagonal, widest in front, sides indented by the temporal 

 plates, about two-thirds the width of anterior fi-ontal, and about one-third longer 

 than wide ; parietal plates forming nearly an equilateral triangle, notched in front 

 for posterior end of frontal, and behind for a very small occipital. (Sometimes a 

 narrow, posterior pair of parietal-like plates, as in Plate 153, Fig. 2b.) Chin-plate 

 large, as wide as the rostral ; seven sub-equal, oblong upper labial plates (separated 

 from orbit by a row of small plates), the first (Plate 153, Fig. 2a), or first and second 

 (Plate 152, Fig. \h), extending downwards on side of chin. Eye-lids with two 

 rows of very small scales. Pre-anal pores sub-tubular, usually six (five to seven) on 

 each side of a triangle in front of five to ten large, irregular unequal, pre-anal, plates. 

 Scales of back flat, sub-hexagonal, each with a very narrow, sharply defined, thread- 



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