^%Y''] PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 715 



(liaineter of the eye; 12 eutire lamellie under tlie fourth toe; eai-oi)en- 

 iug small, one-third the diameter of the eye. 



Habitat. — He Mahe, Seychelles. 



Type.~\J. S. National Museum, No. 20433; Dr. W. L. Abbott coll. 



Description. — Snout considerably longer than the distance between 

 the eye and the ear-opening; ear opening small, rounded: digits rather 

 long, slender, feebly depressed, inferiorly with large, undivided, trans- 

 verse lamella?, 12 under the fourth toe, which are broken up into small 

 tubercles some distance before the distal expansion ; the latter cordi- 

 form, considerably wider than digit, two-thirds the diameter of the eye; 

 digits above, including the upper surface of the expansion covered with 

 small granules like those on the back ; upper surface of body and limbs, 

 as well as tail above and below covered with small uniform granular 

 scales, somewhat larger on snout and tail; rostral four- sided, fully twice 

 as wide as high, without cleft above; nostril pierced just above the 

 suture of the rostral with first labial, betAveen both the latter and three 

 small scales; three scales along the upper border of the rostral between 

 the anterior supero-nasals; eleven supralabials, first largest; ten infra- 

 abials; mental trapezoid, not larger than the adjacent labials; no chin- 

 shields, but small polygonal scales passing gradually into the minute 

 granules of the gular region; abdominal scales small, about the size of 

 the caudal granules, but smooth, roundish hexagonal, slightly imbri- 

 cate; tail cylindrical, tapering, with uniform granulation ; two enlarged 

 granules close together on each side of the base of tail ; no preanal pores. 



Color (in alcohol) above dark brownish gray, with indistinct darker 

 marbling on head and sides; traces of dark cross bands on lower back; 

 below whitish; labials white; a pale stripe from nostril through upper 

 part of eye to above ear-opening bordered below by a dark line; digits 

 cross-barred with dusky. 



Dimensions. — Total length, 75 mm. : tip of snout to ear-opening, 9 mm. ; 

 width of head at ear-opening, 7 mm.; fore limb, 11 mm.; hind limb, 17 

 mm.; tail, 35 mm. 



Remarks. — The discovery of a new gecko of the phyllodactyl group 

 in the principal island of the Seychelles is not so very surprising, be- 

 cause in the first place the reptile fauna of these islands is probably 

 not yet thoroughly explored, while in the second place other species of 

 the same group, as for instance PhyUodactylus oviceps, Ph. sancti- 

 johannis, Ph. stumpffi., Ph. porpluireus., Ph. pictus, and the two species 

 of Ebenavia, inhabit either Madagascar or some of the surrounding- 

 islands. The surprise is, however, that the new species belongs to the 

 genus Diplodactyhis., as now understood by Boulenger, all the hitherto 

 known species of which are confined to Australia. That the present 

 species really is a DiplodactyJus can not be doubted, for the digits are 

 '' not dilated at the base, clawed, the distal expansion covered above 

 with small tubercular scales similar to those on the basal part," the 

 sub-digital transverse lamelhp are undivided, and there is no penul- 



