Zoohgy.'] NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. [Bepliles. 



Plate 171. 



CYCLODUS OCCIPITALIS (Peters). 

 The Broad-Banded or Occipital Blue-Tongue Lizard. 



[Genus CYCLODUS (Waglek). (Sub-kingdom Vertebrata. Class Reptilia. Order 

 Sauria. Sub-order Leptoglossse. Tribe Geissosaura. Family Scincidse.) 



Gen. Char. — Form moderately thick, elongate, fusiform. Head large, thick, sub-trigonal, 

 obtusely pointed in front. Neck short, thick. Head shields thick, rather rugose ; nasal plates 

 near the tip of snout, touching (or nearly) each other aboye, ovato-trigonal ; nostril in centre 

 of nasal plate, with a curved furrow bordering its posterior edge ; internasal or prefrontal 

 plate rhombic ; no supranasals ; frontonasals two, moderate, touching ; frontal large, broad 

 obtuse-angled in front, narrow behind ; two moderately large fronto-parietal plates ; parietals 

 large ; interparietal resembling the frontal, and nearly as long, but much narrower, acute- 

 angled in front ; four superciliary plates over tach eye, the second largest ; about five rows of 

 temporal plates between the eye and the ear ; polygonal occipital shields in one or more trans- 

 verse rows ; orbit surrounded by a row of small plates ; two or more frenal plates between the 

 nasal plate and the orbit ; lower eyelid scaly. Ear-opening large. Scales of back and sides 

 bony, large, convex, subhexagonal, rugose, with obscure, diverging grooves ; scales of belly 

 thinner and smoother. Legs four, nearly equal, small, short, strong ; feet small, each with five, 

 short, cylindrical, subequal toes ; subdigital plates undivided ; claws short, thick. Tail short, 

 slightly less than half of the total length, subcylindrical, very slightly compressed laterally, 

 tapering, with rather thicker scales than the back of the body, and a central row of large, broad 

 scales below. Tongue short, flat, scaly, slightly notched at the point. Teeth on edge of jaws, 

 bluntly rounded ; palate without teeth, with a triangular notch behind, extending forwards as 

 far as middle of eye ; palatine bones meeting in midline of palate.] 



DESCRIPTION. — Head acutely ano-iilar, tip of snout obtusely rounded. Cephalic 

 plates : Rostral hexagonal, separating' nasals above, touching the heptagonal inter- 

 nasal or prefrontal (which does not touch the frontal, being separated from it by 

 the junction of the two large frontonasals, which join by their inner edge), by 

 anterior edge, second frenal plate by outer edge, first supraciliary by hind external 

 edge, and frontal by hind internal edge; five superciliary plates, two middle ones 

 narrowest and over ej'e ; two large supra-ocular plates, anterior largest, subtrigonal 

 or pentagonal, touching first three superciliary plates by outer edges, second supra- 

 ocular and frontonasal by middle and inner hind edges, and frontal by inner edge ; 

 some specimens have a very small third supra-ocular wedged between the third and 

 fourth superciliary plates, the second supra-ocular, and the parietal ; hinder supra- 

 ocular touches third and fourth superciliaries by outer edges, parietals by hind edge, 

 and frontoparietals by inner edge : frontal large, tetragonal, width between anterior 

 lateral angles equal to length from its anterior angle to anterior edge of inter- 

 nasal or prefrontal; length varying from equal to length from anterior angle 

 to tip of snout at middle of rostral, to from same point to anterior edge of 

 internasal; long lateral sides converging to posterior angle between the fronto- 

 parietals; frontoparietals small, subquadrate or pentagonal, touching each other 

 in midline, frontal with inner anterior edge, anterior supra-ocular with anterior 

 outer edge, posterior supra-ocular with posterior outer edge, interparietal with 

 inner posterior edge, and parietal with outer posterior edge ; parietals large, 

 much longer and wider than frontoparietals; interparietal narrow, hexagonal, 

 Dointed behind (so that there is no azygous occipital plate); three or four 

 transverse rows of pairs of occipital plates behind the interparietal, the first being 



Vol. II.— Dkcabe XVIII.— 2j. [ 259 ] 



