1909.] N. Annandale : Lizards from Travancore. 255 



variation than is the case of the race which occurs in Lower Bengal, 

 the Himalayas, Assam, Burma, Malaj^a and Siam ; but that it is 

 impossible to draw an exact line between the two races. Calotes 

 versicolor occurs not only all over the plains of India, but all along 

 the Himalaj'as as well as on isolated hills. It is common in the 

 Darjiling district and in Nepal and Kumaon up to an altitude of 

 over 6,000 feet, but apparentl}^ not above 7,000 feet; in the Simla 

 district I have seen specimens near Kasauli at an altitude of 5,000 

 feet. Apparenth^ however, it does not penetrate very far into the 

 Himalayas from the plains. On the top of Paresnath Hill in 

 Western Bengal it is common, the height of this hill being 4,480 

 feet. 



8. Calotes ophiomachus. 



A small male was taken in thick jungle near Kulattupuzha at 

 the base of the Western Ghats (west side), and was the only living 

 specimen I saw in Travancore, although it is said not to be un- 

 common in that State. This individual was disturbed while dig- 

 ging in the ground with its fore feet, probabl}^ in search of earth- 

 worms. Although put to flight three times at intervals between 

 the early morning and the afternoon, it returned again and again to 

 the same place, recommenced its digging, and was captured the 

 fourth time it was seen. Many lizards have this habit of returning 

 to a place whence they have been scared away. 



9. Charasia hlanfordiana. 



A common species as far south as Trivandrum, and probably 

 Cape Comorin. The furthest south that I actually saw a speci- 

 men was a few miles north of Trivandrum, but there is no geogra- 

 phical or faunistic separation between that locality and the extreme 

 southern point of the Indian Peninsula. The range of this species 

 is a peculiar one. It occurs commonl}' on the hills of the Hazari- 

 bagh district of Western Bengal, ascending Paresnath to the height 

 of over 4,400 feet above sea level, and is found in many rocky 

 localities in the centre of the Indian Peninsula ; on the western 

 side of the Western Ghats it is common in Travancore, but whether 

 its range extends northwards along this range into the Bombay 

 Presidency I have been unable to ascertain. I have seen no 

 record of its occurrence in the south of the Madras Presidency, 

 although it is not uncommon in the northern central part. There 

 are specimens in the Indian Museum from Ranchi, Chota Nagpur ; 

 Paresnath, Hazaribagh district; Chanda and Nagpur, Central 

 Provinces; Raipur ; the Eastern Ghats, and near EHore, Madras, 

 as well as those recently obtained at Maddathorai and Tenmalai 

 in Travancore. In the high mountains to the north of Travancore 

 it is replaced by the allied form Ch. dor satis, which is essentially a 

 mountain species. 



The genus Charasia appears to take the place in the Indian 

 Peninsula of the Palaearctic and Ethiopian genus Agama, which 



