BY C. \V. DE VIS, M.A. 1137 



Varanus, sp. 



Teeth obtuse, sub-compressed ; snout broad, depressed, measured 

 from the anterior angle of the eye equal to the distance therefrom 

 to the anterior border of the ear-orifice ; tail depressed at the base, 

 moderately compressed posteriorly ; scales of the head large, flat, 

 irregular in size and shape, largest between the orbits, those of the 

 supraorbital and temporal regions smaller ; no enlarged series of 

 supraorbitals ; scales of the back oval, much longer than broad, 

 tectiform, of the tail keeled and subspinose, the median pair above 

 elevated, strongly keeled and forming a subspinose groove ; 

 abdominal scales in 86 rows, smooth and flat ; nostril nearer to the 

 tip of the snout than to the angle of the eye; canthus rostralis 

 rather sharp ; grey above with darker spots of two or three scales 

 each on the sides, confluent into reticulating lines on the back ; 

 under surface with numerous pale grey transverse bars ; base of 

 tail above varied with paler scales, for the rest uniform. 



Locality — Herbert River ; collected by Mr. K. Broadbent. 



Notwithstanding the perfect smoothness of the abdominal scales, 

 and also entire absence of enlarged superocular scales, one cannot 

 dismiss a suspicion that this is a local variety of V. prasinus. On 

 one side of the head a single superocular scale, broader than long, 

 is surrounded by a ring of smaller scales ; on the other side even 

 this faint approach to a serial differentiation of the scales is wanting, 

 certainly a very different state of things to that which obtains in 

 V. iwasinus. However, a notice of the lizard, if further examples 

 prove it to be really prasinus^ will at least serve to record the 

 presence of that species on the mainland of the colony. 



