18 BARBOUR AND DUNN — CHINESE JAPALURAS [^V^fvil 



Japalura splendida sp. nov. 



Type, an adult male, U. S. N. M., no. 35,522, from the Gorge of the 

 Yangtze River near Ichang, Hupeh, central China; E. Blackwelder, col- 

 lector. Paratypes: U. S. N. M., 35,523, half-grown, from Taninghsien, 

 eastern end of the Chihsiting Pass, eastern Szechuan, near the Hupeh 

 frontier, and U. S. N. M., no. 35,524, from Liangho in the Chinling Moun- 

 tains of Shensi. 



Description. — Top of head covered with medium-sized, subequal, 

 rugose, juxtaposed scales; on the snout a median series of three or four 

 slightly enlarged subconical scales forming a faintly indicated ridge, flanked 

 on each side by a considerably enlarged anterior canthal scale; no other 

 head scales conspicuously enlarged, except one or two on each side of the 

 post-occipital areas; rostral twice as wide as high, wider but lower than 

 the mental; canthus rostralis sharply defined and continuous with the 

 superciliaries; nostril in a large suboval shield, separated from the rostral 

 by but one small scale, in contact with the first labial, and separated from 

 the second labial by a single small shield; upper labials eight; sixth below 

 the center of the eye; orbit separated from upper labials by three rows of 

 shields, the middle row much enlarged; ten lower labials; a short series 

 of about three enlarged shields above the tympanic region, and above these 

 a few, elongated, almost spinelike scales; nuchal crest very feeble, com- 

 posed of about eight or nine slightly enlarged, denticulate scales, continu- 

 ous with the still more feebly developed dorsal crest. A faintly indicated 

 fold anterior to the insertion of the fore limb; above the insertion of the 

 fore Umb a large area is covered with tiny almost granular scales; back 

 and sides covered with imbricate, strongly keeled scales, which vary some- 

 what in size; somewhat enlarged scales abundantly scattered over the 

 whole back and sides, and generally tending to form longitudinal series 

 (more so than in the preceding species), also the largest scales far less con- 

 spicuously enlarged; scales of throat and belly small, about equal in size, 

 strongly keeled; the hind limb, being extended forward, reaches the an- 

 terior border of the orbit or a little beyond; scales of fore and hind limbs 

 strongly keeled and unequal in size. 



Head dark brown, conspicuously marked with yellow spots and streaks 

 above and on the sides ; a yellow band extending from behind the nostril, 

 beneath the eye and above the labials, to below the tympanic area; rostral 

 and three anterior labials yellow, the others dark ; back uniform dark brown 

 with a broad conspicuous light stripe on each side, and a broad dark zone 

 below this; belly and tail dusky, the latter with irregular darker bands; 

 throat conspicuously streaked, longitudinally, with brown on a yellow 

 ground. 



Dimensions. — Tip of snout to vent, 85; length of head, 30; width of 

 head, 21; fore limb, 44; hind limb, 65; tail, 210 mm. 



