EAST AFKICAN EEPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS 59 



Family ZONURIDAE 



Genus CHAMAESAURA Schneider 



CHAMAESAURA TENUIOR Gunther 



Chamaesaura tenuior Gunther, 1895, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, vol. 15, 



p. 524, pi. 21, fig. B. (Kampala, Uganda.) 

 Chamaesaura annectans Boulenger, 1899, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 97. 



(Ravine Station, Mau Mountains, Kenya Colony, at 7,500 feet.) 



1 (U.S.N.M. 42482) Kenya Colony. (Sm. Afr. Exped.) 1909. 

 16 (U.S.N.M. 49035-47, 49072-4) Kaimosi, K. C. (Heller) 1912. 



The series collected by Heller at Kaimosi, which is just east of the 

 Kenya-Uganda border, is of extreme interest, as it enables us to 

 unite these two East African species on precisely the same grounds 

 as Hewitt ^^ united two of the South African members of the genus 

 in 1909, the action being confirmed by Boulenger ^^ in 1910. The 

 united species in that instance were: 



C. anguina (Linnaeus) with monodactyle hind limbs and 26 mid- 

 body scales. 



C. didactyla Boulenger with didactyle hind limbs and 24 mid-body 

 scales. 



Both variations are distinguishable by their longer fore limbs from 

 their equatorial representatives which provide the parallelism, 

 namely : 



C. tenuior Giinther with monodactyle hind limbs and 24 mid-body 

 scales. 



C. annectans Boulenger with didactyle hind limbs and 26 mid-body 

 scales. 



In the Kaimosi series are monodactyle lizards with 24 and 26 mid- 

 body scale rows as well as didactyle ones with 24 and 26 rows. The 

 full range is, in fact, 22 (No. 49046 U.S.N.M.) to 26 (No. 49042 

 U.S.N.M., etc.), with a single specimen (No. 49045 U.S.N.M.) having 

 25. The longitudinal series of scales between occipital scale and anus 

 range from 38 to 42. (Gunther gave 36 as between tympanum and 

 vent which is about equivalent to 40 from occipital to vent.) Femoral 

 pores range from 1 to 2. The coloration of the series is uniform and 

 gives no grounds for supposing that we are dealing with two forms. 



Naturally the possibility has been considered of these Kaimosi 

 lizards being intermediates between a western and an eastern race 

 as they come from a spot almost exactly halfway between the two 

 type localities. This view, however, is not supported by the avail- 

 able records, for Boulenger himself has recorded annectans from 

 Kabulamuliro, Uganda, and from Bugalla in the Sesse Islands to the 



« Hewitt, 1909, Ann. Trans. Mus., p. 34. 



" Boulenger, 1910, Ann. S. Afr. Mus., vol. 5, p. 470. 



58528—29 5 



