281 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF ABLEPHARUS 

 FROM VICTORIA, WITH CRITICAL NOTES ON 

 TWO OTHER AUSTRALIAN LIZARDS. 



By a. H. S. Lucas, M.A, B.Sc, and C. Frost, F.L.S. 



Ablepharus rhodonoides, sp.nov. 



Snout broad, obtuse; rostral projecting. Eye incompletely 

 surrounded with granules. Nasals large, forming a short suture 

 behind the rostral; frontonasal much broader than long, forming 

 a broad straight suture with the frontal; prefi'ontals widely 

 separated, as long as the fronto-prefrontal suture; frontal large, 

 longer than the frontoparietals and interparietal together, nearly 

 as long as its distance from the nuchals, in contact with the 

 the anterior supraoculars; three supraoculars, second largest; five 

 supraciliaries ; frontoparietals united ; interparietal distinct; 

 parietals about twice as broad as long, forming a suture behind 

 the interparietal; three or four pairs of nuchals; five upper 

 labials, fourth belov/ the eye; five lower labials. Ear-opening 

 minute, distinct. Body much elongate, scales in over sixty 

 transverse series between axilla and groin, arranged in twenty 

 longitudinal series; dorsals largest, laterals smallest. Two 

 enlarged prteanals. Limbs short, tridactyle, widely separated when 

 adpressed; the fore limb shorter than the distance from the end 

 of the snout to the ear-opening; hind limb a little shorter than 

 the distance from the end of the snout to the shoulders; length 

 of outer toe twice the length of the middle, four times that of 

 the inner toe. Tail almost as long as head and body. 



Colour. — Greyish above; each of the dorsal scales with a black 

 central streak, forming four longitudinal series; a black lateral 

 band from the nostril through the eye. Tail brownish. Under- 

 surfaces yellowish. 

 19 



