HERPETOLOGY OP JAPAN. 217 



upper large temporal of second row larger tlian lower; lower eyelid 

 scaly; ear-opening large, though smaller than eye, without lohuies; 

 one azygous postmental, or chin-shield; 38 scale rows round the body; 

 scales smooth; 4 preanal scales, median pair largest; longest toe of 

 hind limb reaches elbow of arm stretched backward; soles nearly 

 uniformly granular. Color (in alcohol) above pale olive brown, with 

 numerous small blackish spots arranged in a median series and a 

 lateral row on each side, the spots of the latter being wider and bor- 

 dering the upper dorso-lateral white band; from eye to above hind 

 legs a broad blackish band with zigzag edges, and a median series 

 of small white dots; above this black band a narrower whitish band 

 and below it a broader white band from snout through ear-opening 

 to groin; below this again a dark-brown band wdth median larger 

 white spots; underside whitish; tail buff, darker above and with pale 

 brownish spots in continuation of the dorsal and lateral bands; legs 

 above brown with rounded pale spots; sutures of labials marked with 

 tlark brown spots. 



Dimensions." 



mm. 



Tip of snout to vent 37 



Snout to ear 9 



Fore leg 12 



Hind leg 19 



In an adult Chinese specimen (U.S.N.M. No. 35527) before me, 

 with perfect tail, the latter measures 97 mm. from vent to tip, while 

 the distance from tip of snout to vent is 75 mm. The tail of the latter 

 is covered underneath with cycloid scales, the median series of which 

 is irregularly widened transversely some distance behind the vent. 



Variation. — Judging from Boulenger's description this species has 

 sometimes a postnasal, while the number of scale rows round the 

 middle of the body varies between 38 and 34, the latter number 

 occiuTing in our Chinese specimen. The specimen described may be 

 abnormal in having the frontal in contact only with first and second 

 supraocular and consequently the fronto-parietal in contact with 

 second supraocular, since Boulenger describes the species as having 

 the frontal in contact with three supraoculars, a condition also found 

 in our Chinese specimen (No. 35527). 



Habitat. — Tliis is a characteristic Himalayo-Chinese species which 

 extends from the eastern Himalayas, where according to Boidenger it 

 is common in Darjeeling, tlirough the hills of Assam and Burma to 

 China and Tonkin. Unitetl States National Museum has it from the 

 province of Shensi, collected by Dr. Eliot Blackwelder, in 1904. It 

 reaches its extreme eastern limit in Formosa where a specunen, now in 

 the British Museum, was collected at Bangkimtsing by Mr. J. D. La 



« Tail V)r()ken. 



