REPTILES FROM SHOA AND ERITREA -iA? 



Specimens from the following localities are preserved in the 

 British Museum : Massowa (Riippell) ; Keren, Bogos (Antinori) ; 

 Soudan (Ori); Zaila, Somaliland (Nurse); Aden (Doria, Yerbury). 



f\. Pristurus percristatus, sj). n. — Snout obtusely pointed, 

 longer than the distance between the eye and the ear-opening, 

 once and one third to once and a half the diameter of the 

 orbit; forehead very slightly concave; ear-opening oval, o))lique, 

 one fourth to one third the diameter of the orbit. The hind 

 limb laid forwards reaches the shoulder in females, between the 

 shoulder and the ear in males, nearly to the ear in young spe- 

 cimens. Head and body covered with uniform granular scales, 

 which are much larger and of about equal size on the snout 

 and belly. Rostral more than twice as broad as deep, with 

 median cleft above ; nostril pierced between the rostral and two 

 or three nasals ; upper nasal largest, in contact with its fellow 

 or separated from it by granules ; six to eight upper and four 

 to six lower labials; symphysial very large, angular or truncate 

 posteriorly and in contact with two or three enlarged mental 

 granules ; no regular chin-shields. Tail compressed, longer than 

 head and body, tapering to a fine point ; in the males, the tail 

 is strongly compressed and crested above, the crest being formed 

 of closely-set, lanceolate lobes and continued all along the back to 

 the nape; the lower edge of the tail is also crested, but less 

 strongly and less regularly (^) ; in the females, the crest is less 

 developed, although perfectly distinct, on the upper edge of the 

 tail and it is absent on the body or continued as a mere series 

 of enlarged granules. Greyish or brownish above, with small 

 dark brown spots or narrow cross-bars on the spine; sides 

 usually speckled or lineolated with orange or brick-red ; females 

 and young often with a yellow or orange vertebral stripe ; a 

 dark streak on each side of the head, passing through the eye; 

 males with a black, light-edged spot, often ocellar-like, on the 



(') The crest is well developed on regenerated tails ; on bifid reproduced tails, 

 both branches are crested. On second regeneration, the crest, I have ascertained, 

 is absent, and this accounts for the differences in the tails of P. carteri and col- 

 laHs, according to their being secondary or tertiary. 



