NO. 1174. HAWAIIAN LAND RErTILES—STEJNEaEB. 805 



ber of species mostly contiiied to the Indian and Anstralian regions, 

 but with a few species of wider range, as, for instance, Leiolopisma 

 laterale, which occurs in southern North America. 



LEIOLOPISMA NOCTUAi (Lesson). 

 MOTH SKINK. 



1830. — Scincus noctua Lesson, Zool. Yoy. Coquille, II, i, p. 48, pi. in, fig. 4 (type 



locality, Ualau, Caroliue Islands). — OVu/ofioina nocluitm Girard, U.S. 



Expl. Exp.,Herpet. (1858), ]^. 2i9. —Lygosoma noctua Bouienger, Cat. 



Liz. Brit. Mus., Ill (1887), p. 256. 

 ISQO.—Lygosoma ve)-<e/»'«7e Hallo WELL, Proc. Phila. Acad., 18(50, p. 487 (type 



locality, "Sandwich Islands"). 

 1861. — Lampvopholis norarcv Fitzinger, Sitz. Bor. Akad. Wiss. Wien, XLII, p. 403 



(nomen nudnni). — Euprepen novarw Steindachxer, Reise Frcg. Xorara, 



Zool. I, Eept., 1869, p. 47, pi. ii, fig. 4 (type localities, Tahiti and Samoa). 

 1874. — Lygosoma (Lipinia) anrea Meyer, Mon. Ber. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1874, p. 132 



(type locality, Jobi Island, New Guinea). 



This skink, to which Lesson gave the name noctua on account of its 

 displaying "the soft and harmonious tints of certain moths," has a 

 distribution only less extensive than that of the azure-tailed skink. 

 Originally described from a specimen captured near a hut in a sugar- 

 cane field in Ualan, the largest eastern island of the Carolines, it was 

 found by the U. S. Exploring Expedition in Tahiti, Eimeo, Samoa, Ka- 

 raka, and the " Sandwich Islands." Specimens from the latter were 

 entered in the record book in the U. S. National Museum as from 

 Oahu and Kauai (No. 5648, U. S.N. M.) and from Hawaii (No. 5885, 

 U.S.N.M.) but none of these have been preserved. The Rogers North 

 Pacific Exploring Expedition also obtained it in the Sandwich Islands, 

 and Hallowell redescribed it as L. vcrtehrale, but his type seems to 

 have had the same fate as the Hawaiian specimens of the Wilkes I'xpe- 

 dition. The British Museum, according to Bouienger, has specimens 

 from Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tongatabu, and Samoa, while Dr. Finch 

 sent specimens to Dr. Peters in Berlin from Tarova (Gilbert Islands). 

 Bouienger, who examined Meyer's type in the Dresden Museum, also 

 regards L. aurea as being this species, which extends its range to the 

 western end of New Guinea, while, according to the same author, it 

 occurs even as far west as Celebes. 



This species is only represented among Mr. Henshaw's specimens, 

 three of which he secured on the porch of his house in Hilo, where, 

 according to him, they are scarce. The records of the exploring exj)e- 

 dition specimens show, however, that it occurs both in Oahu and Kauai, 

 and the i^robability is that it is not lacking on the other islands either, 

 though its unobtrusive habits render it difficult to observe and collect. 



Description.— 1^0. 23446, U.S.N.M. Adult, Hawaii; collector, H. W. 

 Henshaw. Rostral wide, low, broadly in contact with nasals and 



' A moth. 



