NOTES. 235 



10. Viviparity of Gophotis ceylanica and Oviparity of Cera- 

 tophora stoddarlii. — Gophotis and Oeratophora are two genera of 

 Agamoid lizards containing species which are peculiar to Ceylon.* 

 Gophotis ceylanica and Geratophora stoddartii are found in the 

 districts of Nuwara Eliya (6,200 ft.) and Hakgala (5,580 ft.) ; the 

 former species is distinguished by the possession of a prehensile 

 tail, the latter by its rostral appendage (c/. Spolia Zeyl., p^rt I., 

 opposite p. 11). Another species belonging to the same family 

 (Agamidie), also peculiar to Ceylon, is common at Hakgala on way- 

 side bushes ; this is Galotes nigrilahris. 



The other families of lizards which are represented in Ceylon 

 are the Geckonidas, Varanidae, Scincidae, and Chameleodontidae. 

 Here I am only concerned with the Agamidse and Scincidse. 



It is well known that most of the Agamoid lizards are oviparous, 

 laying their eggs in small holes in the ground. The occurrence of 

 viviparity or ovo viviparity, where the eggs undergo their develop- 

 ment within the oviducts so that the young are born active with 

 the characters of the parent, is both rare and exceptional among 

 Agamoids. The only case noted in the Fauna of British India, &c., 

 of a viviparous Agamoid is that of the genus Phrynocephalus, not 

 found in Ceylon (op. cit., Bouleuger, Reptiles and Batrachians, 

 p. 110). 



During a recent visit to Hakgala, where I occupied the Botanical 

 Laboratory by kind permission of Dr. J. C. "Willis, at the end of 

 January and beginning of February, I ascertained that the tree- 

 dwelling lizard, Gophotis ceylanica^ is viviparous. At the proper 

 season the ripe eggs pass into the oviducts and there undergo their 

 development without any shell being formed, so that the half- 

 formed embryo is clearly visible through the thin transparent 

 wall of the oviduct. One female showed three whitish embryos 

 lying upon the yolk in the right oviduct and two in the 

 left, all in the same stage of development; a second had two 

 advanced embryos in each oviduct, with scales and dark pigment 

 appearing. 



The size of the eggs, 13 mm. in major diameter, causes the wall 

 of the oviduct to stretch and to invest each egg closely. After 

 removal of an egg from the oviduct, the embryo with the yolk is 

 still surrounded by three membranes, which I interpret as follows 

 from the examination of flat preparations : — (I) a very thin, trans- 

 lucent, finely fibrous, non-cellular, vitelline membrane ; (2) an 

 equally thin and transparent chorionic membrane which is cellular 



* All species of Ceratophora are endemic. CophotU has another species i n Sunja- 

 ira (Boulenger). 



% I 10-06 



