264 Transactions. — Zoology. 



above each lateral margin and separated from the middle pair 

 by an interval about twice as wide as that between themselves. 

 The outermost stripe on each side may be less distinct than 

 the others. 



Ventral surface white, without markings. Anterior tip 

 pinkish-brown. 



I have named the species after Mr. H. Suter, who found it 

 at Dunedin and gave me three specimens, one of which I 

 received alive and two in spirit. 



Aet. XXI. — The Lizards (Lacertilia) indigenous to New 



Zealand. 



By A. H. S. Lucas, M.A., B.Sc, and C. Feost, F.L.S. 



Communicated by Captain F. W. Hutton. 



[Read before the Philosophical InstitiLte of Canterbury, 1st July, 1896.] 



Our primary object in studying the lizards of New Zealand 

 was to compare them with the lizards of Australia. We had 

 made previously extensive collections of Victorian, and to some 

 extent of Tasmanian and Straits, species, and had carefully 

 examined other available collections. We wished to satisfy 

 ourselves as to the identity or distinctness of these species and 

 the New Zealand species, and to trace, where possible, their 

 affinities. 



Our conclusion is that the New Zealand forms are all 

 endemic, and are all specifically quite distinct from the geckos 

 and skinks of the Australian Continent. We have not had the 

 opportunity of studying the lizards of New Caledonia at first 

 hand, but from the descriptions it seems clea^r that they show 

 much closer affinities with the New Zealand species than do 

 the eastern Australian, but apparently no New Zealand form 

 occurs in New Caledonia. 



The publication of Dr. Boulenger's British Museum " Cata- 

 logue of Lizards " has established a more uniform and more 

 satisfactory form of description of the species. Particulars of 

 structure and of relative dimensions are of much greater im- 

 portance than colour, and are accordingly allowed more weight 

 in the descriptions. 



We consider that all the specimens we have examined 

 fall under the species enumerated in the British Museum 

 catalogue, though there is doubtless more variation than 

 Boulenger records amongst the skinks. We trust that the 

 publication of this list, with Boulenger's descriptions and such 



