166 VAEANID^!. 



rows. Caudal scales keeled, the lateral sometimes intermixed with 

 larger ones ; the caudal keel with a very low, doubly-toothed crest. 

 Light brown above ; a dark temporal streak, from eye to ear, 

 generally confluent with a U-shaped dark marking on the neck ; 

 back with very broad dark transverse bars, broader than the inter- 

 spaces between them ; limbs dark brown, spotted with yellow ; 

 more or less distinct vertical dark bars on the lips ; belly yellowish, 

 uniform or with transverse dark bands. 



Prom snout to vent 1 foot 3 inches. 



Hob. Tenasserim, Sumatra, Borneo. 



187. Varanus salvator. 



Stellio salvator, Laur. Syn. Kept. p. 66. 



Varanus salvator, Cantor, J. A. S. B. xvi, 1847, p. 035 ; Eoukng. 



Cat. Liz. ii, p. 314. 

 Hydrosaurus salvator, Gilnth. Rent. B. I. p. 67, pi. ix, fig. E ; TJteob. 



Cat. p. 39. 



Teeth acute, compressed. Snout depressed at the tip, long, the 

 distance from that point to the anterior corner of the eye being 

 generally a little greater than the distance from the latter to the 

 anterior border of the ear ; canthus rostralis obtuse. Nostril oval, 

 at least twice as far from the orbit as from the tip of th6 snout. 

 Digits moderate. Tail strongly compressed, keeled above. Scales 

 of head moderate, subequal, larger than those on the temples ; supra- 

 ocular region with a series of 4 to 8 large transversely dilated 

 scales. Scales on upper surfaces small, oval, keeled ; abdominal 

 scales keeled, in 85 to 95 transverse rows. Caudal scales keeled ; 

 the caudal ridge with a very low, doubly-toothed crest. Dark 

 brown or blackish above, with yellow spots or ocelli ; snout 

 generally lighter, with transverse black bars, most distinct on the 

 lips, and continued across the chin ; a black temporal band, com- 

 mencing from the eye and bordered by a yellow band which some- 

 times extends along the side of the neck ; lower surfaces yellow. 

 The markings most accentuated in the young. 



From snout to vent 3 feet 4 inches. 



Hob. Bengal, Ceylon, S. China, Burma, Malay Peninsula and 

 Archipelago. Pound in marshy localities or on trees overhanging 

 rivers ; enters the water readily. 



