herPetology oe japan. 231 



Dimensions. 



mm. 



Total length 2^"* 



Snout to vent 



Vent to tip of tail 220 



Snout to edge of collar 22. 5 



Snout to posterior edge of occipital 16 



Width of head ^ 



Fore limb 25 



Hind limb ^^ 



The adult female (U.S.N.M. No. 34166; same locality and col- 

 lector) differs chiefly in having the tail tapering from the beginning 

 without the basal swelling and in somewhat shorter legs, the adpre.ssed 

 hind leg not reaching beyond the axilla. 



The ^young (No. 34169, measurhig 38 mm. from snout to vent) 

 is like the female; occipital is not proportionally larger. 



Variation.— In the ten specimens which are in the National Museum 

 very little individual varia-tion is observed. All have four pairs of 

 chin-shields; all have two mguinal pores on each side, except No. 

 34163, which has three. All have the nasals in contact behind the 

 rostral There is some difference in the distinctness of the keels on 

 the ventral plates, due apparently to age, since the larger specimens 

 mens are more distinctly keeled, while in the smaller ones the four 

 median plates are smooth or. nearly so. 



Remarlcs.— This exceedingly distinct species does not show any 

 near aflnnity to the other known species of the genus. It is absolutely 

 unique in the arrangement and size of the dorsal scales. _ 



Another character unexpected in so southern a species is the num- 

 ber of submandibular shields. Four chm-shields are found normally 

 only in the northern forms, namely, T. tachydromoides and its allies. 



The discovery of this novelty in the southern group of the Riu Kiu 

 Archipelago is the more startling, since we have T. smaragdinus from 

 Miyakoshtma in the same group, a species which conforms in all 

 respects to the general type of the genus. On the other hand, the fact 

 that we have ten specimens of the present species from Ishigaki shima 

 and none of the regular type seems to indicate that the latter may not 



occur in that island at all. i • • i 



Ha&itot— Apparently confined to the island of Ishigaki, m the 

 southern group of the Riu Kiu Archipelago, where Mr. A. Owston's 

 collector obtained it during the summer of 1899. 



