igoy-] Records of the Indian Museum. 155 



in this respect. There are no projecting lobules or granules at the 

 edge of the ear opening. On the whole, I cannot say that there is 

 any distinction between this specimen and others from further west 

 which would justify its being regarded as representing even a local 

 race; but it is certainly larger and brighter than the majority of speci- 

 mens I have examined. It has thirty scales round the middle of 

 the body. The '' obscure dark edging " of the ventral scales of 

 this species to which I have referred in the paper cited above, ap- 

 pears to be entirely due to bad preservation of the specimens ex- 

 amined, L. himalayanum is by far the commonest skink in Kumaon 

 between 4,000 and 7,000 feet. There are specimens in the Indian 

 Museum said to come from the plains, but their history is one 

 which has proved untrustworthy in other instances and I think that 

 the locality attributed to them is incorrect. The habits of L. hima- 

 layanum differ somewhat from those of L. sikkiniense, as the former 

 appears to avoid the sun and is often found in rather damp situations. 

 It is very abundant on the banks of the lake at Naini Tal (6,400 

 feet) and in gardens in the town of Simla, in the neighbourhood of 

 which it is common at least as high as 9,000 feet. Males taken in 

 this district in April and May had a lateral stripe of orange or bright 

 reddish-brown running along the body below the dark lateral band. 

 This conspicuous stripe was absent from females taken at the same 

 season and from specimens of both sexes examined in Kumaon in 

 autumn. The oviducts of the females contained eggs in May but 

 not in September. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE VI. 



Fig. I. — Gymnodactylus himalayicus, Annandale. 



Fig. 2. — Hemidactylus nepalensis, sp. nov. 



Fig. 3. — Lygosoma himalayanum (Giinther), from the Little Nepal 



Valley. 

 Fig. 4. — Lygosoma sikkimense, Blyth, from the same locality. 



OPHIDIA. 

 By F. Wall, Major, I.M.S., C.M.Z.S. 



I am indebted to Dr. N. Annandale for giving me an opportunity 

 of examining a small collection of snakes from Nepal, and per- 

 mitting me to make the following remarks upon them. 



Among the twenty specimens, eleven species are represented, 

 most of which are common. 



The names used are those applied by Boulenger in his Catalogue 

 of Snakes in the British Museum, 1893-96. 



The specimens are as follows : — 



I. Python molurus. 



The head and part of the body are preserved of a small ex- 

 ample from Bichiakoh, Nepal Terai. 



