EAST AFRICAN REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS 



75 



Kenya Colony (vicinity of Mount Kenya)... 

 Tanganyika Territory (mostly Central area) 

 South Africa (Mozambique to Angola) 



Number 

 of speci- 

 mens 



Long 

 lobules 



Per cent 







12.5 

 20 



' Mtali's village, Mkalama; Shanwa, Mwanza; Hounslow, Cape Province. 



I have been very careful to select only those of which there could 

 be no question that their lobules were as long, often longer, than 

 those of the paratype available for comparison. 



My own view is that in East Africa M. varia is a rock or rather 

 boulder loving skink chiefly found on mountain sides often at the 

 edge of rain-forest. It can, however, live in a variety of situations 

 and in the Dodoma Province of Central Tanganyika Territory it 

 occurs abundantly among the boulders and bushes at the base of 

 small rocky hills (Jcopjes) in this semi-arid thornbush region. I 

 imagine that large lobules are somewhat of a protection to the 

 tympanum in deflecting particles of sand during high winds and that 

 therefore such lobules are likely to occur in a heavy percentage in 

 such areas as Dodoma, Mtali's village, and Namaqualand. I must 

 admit that I have never found anj^thing like the hundred per cent 

 of Mr. Hewitt's Namaqualand series but at the same time the series 

 was admittedly small. I hope shortly to have the opportunity^ of 

 collecting this skink over a wide area and trust that the resulting 

 series may contribute more light on the subject as to whether the 

 claims of longiloba to recognition are justified. 



It might be remarked in passing that a skink from the plains west 

 of Mount Kenya (M.C. 2, No. 12371) has the praefrontals and fronto- 

 nasal fused into a single shield. 



MABUYA VARIA variety 



1 (U.S.N.M. 41977) Northern Guaso Nyiro, K. C. (Heller) 1911. 

 3 (U.S.N.M. 49413-5) Aberdare Mountains, K. C. (Heller) 1911. 

 1 (U.S.N.M. 49449) Kenya Colony. (Heller) 1911. 



I have listed these five skinks separately, with the object of 

 attracting attention to their very distinct appearance, though this 

 is only of color and markings, as I can find no scale characters by 

 which to distinguish them from typical varia, and it is to be observed 

 that the latter occurs in all the localities cited for the variety. Their 

 unique appearance is due to the entire absence of markings, all five 

 being uniformly olive-green or brown above, bluish-grey or bufl!y- 

 white below. They possess 30 to 32 mid-body scale rows and are 

 equally typical in other respects. The largest specimen (No. 49413) 

 is a pregnant female and measures 141 (53 + 88) mm. 

 58628—29 6 



