12. PETSTTTRTJS. 63 



the diameter of the orbit ; forehead very slightly concave ; ear- 

 opening oval, oblique, hardly one third the diameter of the orbit. 

 Limbs long, the hind limb when stretched forwards reaching the 

 axilla ; digits long and slender. Head, body, and tail covered with 

 granular scales, largest and of about equal size on the snout and 

 belly. Rostral subquadrangular, more than twice as broad as high, 

 with median cleft above ; nostril pierced between the rostral and 

 three nasals ; seven or eight upper and five or six lower labials ; 

 mental very large, truncate posteriorly; no regular chin-shields. 

 Tail longer than head and body, slender, strongly compressed, 

 keeled above and beneath ; the two keels denticulate, the upper 

 most strongly, especially in males, in which it forms a regular crest ; 

 in males the dorsal keel forming also a denticulation. Light 

 greyish-brown above, with more or less distinct darker transverse 

 bars; a darker streak passing through the eye; lower surfaces 

 whitish ; throat sometimes white-dotted. 



Total length 79 miUim. 



Head 9-5 



Width of head 6-5 



Body 29-5 



Fore limb 17 



Hind limb 21 



Tail (injured) 40 



Abyssinia. 



h. 

 d. 



a-h. $ . Abyssinia. Frankfort Museimi. 



c-d. d. Syria (?). 



2. Pristurus mpestris. 



Pristurus rupestris, Blanford, Ann. 8f Mag. N. H. (4) xiii. 1874, 

 p. 464; id. Zool. E. Pei'sia, p. 350, pi. xxiii. fig. 1 ; id. Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1881, p. 465 ; Murray, Zool. Bind, p. 365, pi. — . fig. 1. 



Head short and high ; snout acuminate, once and two fifths to 

 once and a half the diameter of the orbit ; forehead scarcely con- 

 cave; ear-opening oval, oblique, about one third the diameter of 

 the orbit. Limbs long, the hind limb when stretched forwards 

 reaching the ear-opening or between the shoulder and the ear- 

 opening ; digits long and slender. Snout covered with polygonal 

 convex scales ; the remainder of the head, the body, and the limbs 

 covered with small granules; those on the belly larger, though 

 smaller than the scales on the snout. Rostral more than twice as 

 broad as high, with median cleft above ; nostril pierced between 

 the rostral and two or three nasals ; seven or eight upper aad five 

 or six lower labials ; mental very large, ^truncate posteriorly ; no 

 regular chin-shields. Tail longer than head and body, slender, 

 strongly compressed, keeled above and beneath ; the two keels den- 

 ticulate, the upper most strongly, especially in males, in which it 

 forms a regular crest, which, however, never extends to the body. 



