168 BULLETIN 58, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



on the latter; underneath scales larger with a median series of wide 

 •plates, .every third of which is a little wider, its posterior edge corre- 

 sponding to the posterior outline of the annulus. Color (in alcohol) 

 drab gray above with a double series of obscure dusky spots on back 

 and crossbars on limbs and tail; an obscure dusky band from nostril 

 through eye to occiput meeting its fellow from the other side on the 

 latter; a similar band from eye to ear-opening, and ill-defined dusky 

 spots on both upper and lower labials. 



Dimensions. 



mm. 



Total length 106 



Snout to vent 60 



Vent to tip of tail 46 



Snout to ear-opening 16 



Greatest width of head 13 



Fore leg, from axilla 18 



Hind leg, from groin 26 



The adult female (U.S.N.M. No. 31822; same locahty and col- 

 lector) differs cliiefiy in the absence of the preanal pores and of , the 

 basal swelling of the tail; the spur-like tubercle on each side of the 

 base of the latter is present, but is smaller than in the male; the tail 

 itself is slightly broader and more depressed. 



Variation. — Besides slight differences in the number of labials, in 

 the relative size and shape of the chin-shields, and in the number of 

 tubercles on the occiput, it may be mentioned that some specimens, 

 for instance, U.S.N.M. No. 13563, from Nagasaki, have plainly devel- 

 oped tubercles among the granules on the upper side of forearm and 

 tibia, especially on the latter. The number of preanal pores in the 

 males varies somewhat. In some specimens the series is narrowly 

 interrupted on the middle line by a single poreless scale, in others the 

 series is continuous. Thus, No. 13563, from Nagasaki, and No. 

 13751, from Yokohama, have three pores on each side of the median 

 line; Sci. Coll. No. 30, from Formosa, has 9 pores in a continuous line; 

 No. 14866, from Osaka, has 7 altogether, like a specimen from Shi- 

 koku, No. 31895.'* The spur-like tubercle on each side of the base 

 is very variable. Often there is a group of three large tubercles, 

 and in No. 13563 these are supplemented by two additional large 

 scales at their base. 



When the tail is broken off, the new tail grown, as in No. 13563, 

 approximates the old one in size and shape, but the scales are larger 

 somewhat imbricate, and not arranged in transverse series; neither 

 is there any trace of annuli nor of tubercles; a few of the scales on 

 the under side are widened, but there is no median series of regular 

 shields. 



«Boulenger's statement (Cat. Liz. Brit. Mus., I, 1885, p. 188), that there are " six to 

 sixteen on each side " is due to a lapse. 



I 



