NEW GUINEA. 53 



confined to the island and four which are not. This last genus presents a 

 curious example of discontinuous dispersal. The species from the Greater 

 Sunda Islands do not seem to be even subgenerically differentiated from the 

 Papuan species; while two, known from the Andamans and Nicobars, are 

 closely similar to the Papuan forms. While species occur in the Philippines, 

 none have as yet been reported from the Sunda Islands east of Bali, nor in any 

 of the Moluccas. The distribution, then, is a peculiar one for a lizard in this 

 area. The species are conspicuous and have probably already been found on 

 most of the islands where they occur. 



Varanus is present, with three autocthonous species, two others which are 

 wide-ranging, and one form which is confined to Papua and the Aru Islands. 

 The genus is certainly one which has been directly derived from the westward. 

 Tiliqua gigas (Schn.) is the single species of this Australian genus which ranges 

 from its origin. 



Using the generic term Lygosoma as a convenient general name to cover 

 the many closely related small seines which have been considered elsewhere as 

 being generically separable, but which have all been placed in this genus by Bou- 

 lenger, we find the condition of affairs most astonishing in comparison with that _ 

 on the Malayan islands — for here we have thirty-one peculiar species and in 

 addition twenty others which range off the island. The almost omnipresent 

 Cruptoblepharus boutonii (Desj.) is, of course, found too. 



Tribolonotus is another peculiar monotypic genus with a single species, 

 T. novae-guineae (Schl.), which is not known outside the island; while Dibnmus 

 novae-guineae, though certainly more abundant in Papuasia than elsewhere, has 

 recently been found in the Malay Peninsula and in Sumatra. It either occurs 

 elsewhere undiscovered, or else the individuals from these two parts of the range 

 represent different species, however indistinguishable they may seem to be. 



The snakes show a somewhat different state of affairs from that of the 

 lizards. The Australian character is very strongly brought out, and the purely 

 Malayan forms do not seem to flourisli in the area, inasmuch as they arc repre- 

 sented by comparatively few genera, hardly any one of which has more than a 

 single species within the range. 



Typhlops may certainly be considered as having relations westward. Two 

 species of the genus are autocthonous; one occurs in British New Guinea and 

 in Queensland; another in Dutch New Guinea and the Ke Islands; while T. 

 braminus (Daud.) is well known for its enormous range. 



Liasis, an apparently Papuan genus, is represented by three species in New 



