804 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



while in the latter there is a movable covering, which shuts over the 

 eye aud i)rotects it. 



The three species can not well be confounded if it be remembered 

 that the Ahlephartis has no eyelid; that the Lciolopisma has the plate 

 between the frontal and the parietal split up into three separate plates, 

 namely, two frontoparietals aud one interparietal (compare figs. 8 and 

 9) ; and that the Emoia has the nasal shield split up into a small nasal 

 proper, an elongated horizontal supranasal above it, and a small post- 

 nasal behind it. This character is not always exclusive, however, as it 

 may be seen occasionally in specimens of Ahlepharus, in which case the 

 character of the eyelid must decide. 



Comparative table of dimensions. 



This table demonstrates the greater proportionate length of the tail 

 in E. cyanura and the more foreward position of the ear-opening in 

 A. i)cecilo])leiirus. 



The tail of a skink is liable to be broken off, though not quite so 

 fragile as that of our geckos, and is reproduced with equal ease. The 

 new tail is not quite so long or so perfect as the old one, the scales are 

 not arranged with the same symmetry, but otherwise there is less dif- 

 ference than usual in the geckos, though the often abrupt change in 

 coloration will^in most cases reveal the reproduced part. Two-pronged 

 caudal appendages of the second growth are also sometimes met with. 



LEIOLOPISMAi Dunaeril and Bibron. 

 (Figs. 10, 11.) 



1839. — Leiolopisma Dumkuil and Bibron, Erp6t. Gdn., V, p. 742 (type, L. telfairii). 



1843. — Leiolepisvia Fitzinger, Syst. Kept., p. 22 (emend.). 



1843. — LamproplioUs Fitzinger, Syst. Kept., p. 22 (type, M. guichenoti), 



1845. — Mocoa Gray, Cat. Liz. Brit. Mus., p. 80, (type, M. guichenoti). 



1857. — Oligosoma GiRARD, Proc. Phila. Acad., 1857, p. 196 extr., p. 4 (type, M. 



zehnidica=^ O. mocoa). 

 186i:.—Liolepisma Peters, Mon, Bar. Berlin Akad. Wiss., 1864, p. 387 (emend. ). 



Eyelids well developed, movable, the lower with an undivided trans- 

 parent disk; no suprauasals; interparietal distinct. 



The genus which is here regarded as more restricted than Boulenger's 

 section of the genus Lygosoma of the same name, contains a large num- 



1 From AezoS, smooth; XoTtid^a, envelope. 



