2(38 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Mus., viii., p. 477, pi. xviii., fig. 14. (?) Naultinus lineatus, 

 Gray, Ann. and Mag. N.H. (4), iii., 1869, p. 243. Naul- 

 tinus sulpJmreus, Buller, I.e., p. 8; Hutton, I.e., p. 172. 

 Naultinus sylvestris (Buller), Field, N.Z. Journal Science, 

 i., 1882, p. 177. Naultinus pulcherrimus, Buller, T.N.Z.I., 

 1876, vol. ix., p. 326, pi. xvii. Naultimis pentagonalis, 

 Colenso, T.N.Z.I., 1879, vol. xii., p. 251. 

 " Head small, short ; snout obtusely subtriangular, short, 

 measuring slightly more than the distance between the eye 

 and the ear-opening, and twice the diameter of the orbit, with 

 vertical loreal region and obtuse canthus rostralis ; no trace 

 of a concavity on the upper surface of the head ; eye very 

 small, with distinct circular lid ; ear-opening very small, oval, 

 horizontal. Body and limbs moderate, slightly depressed. 

 Head covered with granular scales posteriorly, with poly- 

 gonal, flat, or more or less convex, considerably larger scales 

 on the snout ; rostral about twice as broad as high, with 

 distinct median cleft superiorly ; nostril pierced between the 

 fii'st upper labial and three or four small nasals ; eleven or 

 twelve upper and ten or eleven lower labials; mental twice 

 as broad as high anteriorly, narrowed posteriorly ; the mental 

 and labials followed by very small chin-shields gradually 

 passing into the minute granules of the throat. Upper 

 surfaces covered with small granules, lower surfaces with 

 very small slightly-imbricated scales. Male with a large 

 median patch of prseanal pores and two series of femoral 

 pores. Tail long, cylindrical, covered with very small sub- 

 equal juxtaposed scales. 



" Total length, 188mm. ; head, 20mm. ; width of head, 

 17-5mm. ; body, 61mm.; fore-limb, 32mm.; hind - limb, 

 68mm. ; tail, 107mm." Boulenger. 



In order to show the great amount of colour-variation, it is 

 convenient to enumerate the more definite colorations which 

 occur, but it does not seem that these correspond to different 

 varieties or races. Thus Sir Walter Buller writes,"^' " A live 

 specimen which I kept for several months, and which pre- 

 sented only a few obsolete yellow marks on the back, gave 

 birth to three young ones, each differently marked, but all 

 having the double series of bi'ight dorsal spots." 



a. Type of N. elegans, Gray. — " Dark-olive above, yellow 

 beneath, a streak on each side of the crown, another on the 

 lower lip, and generally also one from axilla to groin, and 

 large paired spots on the back and tail yellow black-margined." 

 Boulenger. 



According to both Hutton and Buller, purplish tints are 

 due to spirit-discoloration. 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., iii., 1870. 



