Ereiiiias. 337 



iu length to vent; snout obtuse or obtusely pointed, nasals feebly 

 swollen, as long as or a little shorter tiiau the postocular part of the 

 head, with a more or less distinct median concavity above, extending 

 to the middle of the frontal shield ; canthus rostralis obtuse, loreal 

 region not or but feebly concave. Pileus 1| to 1^- times as long as 

 broad. Neck as broad as the head. Hind limb reaching the wrist, 

 the elbow, or the axil, rarely the shoulder, in females, the axil, the 

 shoulder, or the collar in males ; foot as long as the head or a little 

 longer ; toes rather short, not compressed. Tail 1 to li times the 

 length of head and body, sometimes feebly compressed posteriorly. 



Upper head-shields flat or rather convex, smooth ; nasals in contact 

 behind the rostral, the suture between them i to~ i the lengtli of 

 the frontonasal, rarely equal to it ; frontonasal longitudinally divided,* 

 at least twice as broad as long ; prefrontals as long as or longer than 

 broad, usually with one or two small shields between them, rarely 

 three in a longitudinal series or forming a triauglef ; frontal as long 

 as or a little shorter than its distance from the end of the snout, 

 1^ to If times as long as broad, J to 4 of its lateral border in 

 contact with the supraoculars, or, rarely, separated from them by 

 a series of small scales ; parietals as long as broad or broader 

 than long ; interparietal usually smaller than the frontoparietals ; no 

 occipital. Two large supraoculars, first usually shorter than second 

 and as long as or shorter than its distance from the second loreal ; 

 usually a third small supraocular, often band-like ; 4 to 6, rarely 3, 

 superciliaries, first longest ; one or two series of granular scales 

 between the supraoculars and the superciliaries. Eostral usually 

 li to 1 i times as broad as deep, rarely as deep as broad ; three 

 nasals, J the lower either just reaching the rostral or more or less 

 extensively separated from it,§ and in contact with the first and 

 second upper labials ; anterior loreal deeper than long, much shorter 

 than the second ; 6 or 7, rarely 5, exceptionally 4, upper labials to 

 below the centre of the eye ; subocular keeled below the eye, usually 

 not reaching the mouth, resting on the 5th to 7th, 5th to 8th, 

 6th to 8th, or 6th to 9th upper labials, rarely || bordering the 



* Stejneger mentions a specimen from Eastern Mongolia in wliich there 

 is only a veiy small, single frontonasal and a pair of very long firefrontals. 



t Out of 69 specimens examined, the median shield is absent in 7, one is 

 present in 34, two in 25, and three in 3. 



J Lower nasal exceptionally divided, according to Bedriaga. 



§ The upper nasal sometimes largely in contact with the first upper labial, 

 the arrangement of the three shields being exactly as in Nucras. 



II One specimen from Pekin and one from Aisun. Bedriaga also mentions 

 such an exceptional specimen. The specimen from Pekin is one of two 

 VOL. 11. 22 



