HERPETOLOGY OF JAPAN. . 163 



1839. Saurcs Swainson, Nat. Hist. Class. Fish. Aniph. Rc])!., II ( Lardnrr's Cab. 



Encyd.), p. 148. 

 1842. LacertiUa Owen, Rep. Brit. Ass. Adv. Sci. Plyinouih Meet., 1841 (p. 144). 

 1845. Saura Gray, Cat. Liz. Brit. Mus., p. 3. 



1849. Porpopoda Mayer, Rheinlaend. und Weslphal. Vdliandl., VI (p. 177). 

 1857. LepidfltaJAN, Cenni Mus. MilaiKi, p. 37. 

 1886. Englnssa Gihh, Rep. Sraithson. Inst., 1885, p. 801. 

 1898. Aiitosauri Haeckel, in Gadow, Classif. Vertebr., 1898, p. 24. 



The saurian fauna of Japan is very fragmentary, containing at 

 most 30 species belonging to only 4 families. It is very suggestive that 

 the bulk of this number belongs to the two families GekJconidse and 

 Scincidse, which are nearly cosmopolitan in their distribution. Mem- 

 bers of these families, moreover, seem to be more easily transported 

 to distant islands than almost any other lizards. Thus, among the 

 species occurring in Japanese territory, Hemidactylus frenatus occurs 

 throughout the islands and along the shores of the western Pacific, 

 from Korea to Australia, the entire Indian Ocean, and even in St. 

 Helena, in the Atlantic Ocean, while the CryptohlepJiarus pcecilopleurus 

 has a distribution even more extended. The most remarkable range, 

 however, is that of Leiolopisma laterale, which furnishes one of the 

 most extraordinary instances of disconnected distribution, as the 

 specimens of the East Asiatic colony seem to be practically indis- 

 tinguishable from those occurring in North America east of the 

 Rocky Mountains. 



The herpetological fauna of Formosa is as yet too little known to 

 allow us to make any generalization as to the route b}^ which the 

 Indo-Malayan species have reached the Riu Kiu Islands 



Of the rather numerous superfamilies into which the lizards may 

 be divided, only three are represented in Japan and neighboring 

 countries, viz, the Geklconoidese, the Agamoidese, and the Lacertoidese, 

 the first two with one family each, the latter with two, the Lacertidx 

 and the Scincidse. Some of their main characters are included in 

 the following : 



TABLE OF S.\URIAN FAMILIES IN JAPAN, ETC. 



a' Tongue smooth, or with villose papilla*. 



6' (Gekkonoide.e). No postorbital or postfronto-squainosal arches; claA'icle dilated 



proximally Gekkonid^, p. 164 



b^ (Agamoide.e). Postorbital and postfronto-squamosal arches present; clavicle not 



dilated proximally Acamid.e, p. 182 



a^ (Lacertoide.e). Tongue covered with imbricate scale-like papillie or with oblique 

 papillose folds. 



fc' Premaxillary double; body with osteodernial plates Scincid.e, p. 193 



b^ Premaxillary single; no osteodernial plates Lacertid.e, p. 228 



Taking cognizance of external, easily verified characters only, the 

 species occurring within our area may be referred to their respective 

 families by the following: 



