ART. 25 CHINESE AMPHIBIANS AND EEPTILES STEJNEGER 55 



The new species, though evidently closely related, differs very 

 essentially from L. pellopleurus not only in the characters em- 

 phasized in the above diagnosis but also in the less elongate body, 

 the longer tail, the fewer scale keels, and the coloration. The ter- 

 minal scale covering the base of the claws is also a trifle smaller. 

 As might perhaps be expected, the mainland species is somewhat 

 less specialized, as shown by the larger parietals, the larger supra- 

 oculars, etc., but it does not link this genus any closer with any 

 other forms composing the unwieldly Boulengerian genus Li/gosoma. 

 In this connection it may be recalled what I said about Lygosaurus 

 not seeming to belong to the Himalayo-Chinese fauna, having, as 

 it does, a structure reminding one of south Indian forms rather 

 than of any genus or species peculiar to the northern mountains. 



Family LACERTIDAE 



TAKYDROMUS SEXLINEATUS MERIDIONALIS (Guenther) 



1864. Tachydromus meridionalis Guenther, Rept. Brit. India, p. 70, pi. 8, 

 fig. D (type-locality. Southern China; types in British Mus. ; J. Reeves, 

 collector) ; Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (ser. 6), vol. 1, 1888 (p. 167 ) .^Boettgeb, 

 Offenbach. Ver. Naturk., 24-25 Ber., 1885, pp. 118, 142 (Canton and 

 Lilong) ; Kat. Rept. Mus. Senckenberg, pi. 1, 1893, p. 79 (Nan-ning on 

 the Yu-Kiang, prov. Kwangsi ; Canton ) .—Werner, Abh. Bayer. Akad. 

 Wiss., II KL, vol. 22, pt. 2, 1904, p. 361.— Vogt, Sitz. Ber. Ges. Naturf. 

 Freunde, Berlin, 1914, p. 98 (northern Kwangtung). 



1887. Tachydromus sexlineatus Boulengek, Cat. Liz. Brit. Mus., vol. 3, 

 p. 4 (part: S'. China) ; Mouogr. Lacert., vol. 2, 1921, p. 151 (part: Amoy; 

 South China). 



It seems to me as if the last word about the forms which Boulenger 

 includes in T. sexlineatus Daudin, has not been said yet, hence I re- 

 tain the name T. meridionalis for the South China material at least 

 for the present. Compared with specimens from the Malay Archi- 

 pelago, which seem to be typical of T. sexlineatus^ there appears to be 

 enough differences to warrant the retention of the name of T. meri- 

 dionalis in a subspecific sense. The head of the Chinese examples, 

 five of which were collected by Mr. Sowerby in Fukien, are markedly 

 shorter with resultant differences in the proportions of the various 

 head shields; the number of lamellae under fourth toe are fewer; 

 the number of inguinal pores is invariably one on each side ; the pre- 

 vailing number of ventral scale rows is twelve; besides differences 

 in color and minor differences in scalation and proportion. The 

 data relating to the South China specimens are given in the tables 

 following. 



