Tachydroniu^. 127 



1885, p. 125 ; Bouleiii;-. Cat. Liz. iii, p. 3 (1887), and Mem. As. Soc. 

 Beng V, 1917, p. 207. 

 TachysaurHs, Gray, t.c. 



Head- shields normal. Nostril pierced between the 

 nasal, one or two postnasals, and the first upper labial. 

 Lower eyelid scaly. Collar more or less distinct or 

 absent. Back with l;u-ge plate-like subimbricate scales 

 with strong keels forming continuous lines, sides with 

 small juxtaposed or granular scales; ventral plates more 

 or less imbricate, often pointed and keeled, the outer 

 always keeled. Digits cylindrical or slightly compressed, 

 with smooth or somewhat tubercular lamellas inferiorly. 

 Femoral pores reduced to one* to three. Tail long o^' 

 extremely long, cylindrical. 



Eastern Asia. 



The parietal forameu is constantly present, and jjterygoid teeth are 

 absent or reduced to 2 to 5. 



Judging from the type species, T. sexUneatus, this genus seems 

 rather widely remote fromi/«(:!er/«, but the question assumes a different 

 aspect if we compare T. amurensis, which stands at the other end of 

 the series, and which is most clearly related to Lacerta and 

 especially to the Section Zootoca. 



The term "inguinal pores" has been universally used for the one 

 or two pores on each side of the preanal region, as is the rule in this 

 genus, and no exception could be taken to this terminology were it not 

 that when more than two pores are present, the series extends on to the 

 thigh. As the single pore is part of the series known as femoral pores 

 in the other Lacertidse, it is moi-e logical in view of securing uniformity 

 in terminology to discard the term " inguinal,'' and to express the 

 state of things in Tachydronius by saying that the series of femoral 

 pores is reduced to one to three. In several forms of Lacerta and 

 Lafastia, when the number of femoral pores falls very low, the reduc- 

 tion takes place from the distal end of the thigh, thus leading to the 

 condition in Tachydromng.f It is also noteworthy that in the African 

 analogue of Tachydromus, Poromera, the series of femoral pores, though 

 a long one, ends at some distance from the knee-joint. 



* Iiifyuinal pore. 



t Specimens of Lacerta vivipai-a with only 5 femoral pores show this very 

 clearly. 



