90 



from an examination of the type specimens, I am enabled to 

 restore the earlier name of L. hicarinatuin (Macleay) to the 

 species described under the name of L. albertisii (Peters & Doria) 

 by Mr. Boulenger (Brit. INIus. Cat. (Ed. 2) iii. p. 286), who, 

 however, suggested the probable identity of the two forms ; it is 

 in any case a most variable species, and the two diagnoses quoted 

 might well be described as the poles of the species, but leading 

 insensibly by numerous intervening grades from the soberly attired 

 Z. bicariuatuin to the handsomely marked Z. albertisii. The species 

 described as L. atrogulare is noteworthy as having a possibly 

 sexual difference in coloration, the adult males (?) being provided 

 with a black chin and throat, while tlu; females,(?) and proljably 

 the young males, have these parts merely spotted. It is somewhat 

 remarkable that no less than two of the three Skinks belong to 

 the small section of Dumeril and Bibron's genus Liolepisma, 

 characterized by the presence of four fingers and live toes, and a 

 single frontoparietal followed by a small interparietal, so that 

 northern Australia and Papuasia appear to be the metropolis of 

 this section of the genus Lygosoma. In connection with the 

 mai^ked variability in this species I am more than ever inclined 

 to believe tliatX. tetradactyhun (O'Shaughn.), L.j^ectoraJe (DeVis), 

 and L. maccooeyi (Rms. & Ogl.), are correlative varieties of an 

 allied species. 



LlALIS BUKTONI. 



Lialis bicatenata. Gray, Brit. Mus. Cat. Lizards, p. G9 (1845). 



While temporarily accepting Mr. Boulenger's dictum that the 

 various forms of Lialis hitherto described "should be united into 

 one species," I may remai^k that, setting aside the wide ditlerences 

 in color, the equally marked variation in the length and tenuity 

 of the snout appears sufficiently important to justify the retention 

 of at the least two of Dr. Gray's species. Our New Guinea 

 specimen agrees most closely with Mr. Boulenger's " Var. H", 

 but it possesses a distinct, though narr-ow, cream-colored lateral 

 band, extending from the angle of the niouth to the tip of the tail. 



GONYOCEPIIALUS MODKSTUS. 



Gonyocephalus (Ili/psilurus) modestus, ]\fpypr, Moa. Berl . Ac. 

 1874, p. 130.' 

 Snout pointed, equal to, or a little longei- than, tlie di.imcter of 

 the orbit ; nostril lateral much closer to the tip of the snout than 

 to the eye ; canthus rostralis and supraciliary edge acute and 

 projecting ; tympanum distinct, oval, its greatest diameter as 

 large as the eye-opening ; interorbital space deeply concave ; 

 upper head-scales small, keeled, not enlarged on the supraorbital 

 region ; canthus rostralis and supraciliary edge with a row of 

 enlarged, elongate, strongly keeled, raised scales, overlapping 

 one another on tlie inside, and decreasing posteriorly to the 



