56 Lacertidie. 



Habit robust. Head 1^ to 14 times as loug as broad, its length 4 to 

 4f times in leugth to vent, its depth equal to the distance between the 

 anterior corner or the centre of the eye and the tympanum ; snout 

 short, very obtuse, as long as the postocular part of the head, about 

 twice as long as broad. Neck narrower than the head. The hind 

 limb reaches the axil or the shoulder in females, the collar in males ; 

 foot a little longer than the head. Tail If to If times as long as head 

 and body. 



Suture betw'een the nasals not more than h the length of the fronto- 

 nasal, which is broader than long ; prefrontals strongly keeled, narrow, 

 more than twice as long as broad, separated by two azygos shields ; 

 frontal shorter than its distance from the end of the snout, nearly 

 twice as long as l)road, bifid and bicarinate in front, narrow behind ; 

 parietals longer than broad, their outer portion broken up into small 

 shields ; interparietal rather large, in contact with a small occipital, or 

 narrowly separated from it. Only one large supraocular (correspond- 

 ing to the third), sometimes with a very short or crescentic vestige of a 

 second (corresponding to the second), the greater part of the supra- 

 ocular region covered with small granular scales, of which 2 or 3 series 

 separate the supraocular from the superciliaries ; 5 superciliaries, first 

 nearly as long as the others together. Anterior loreal shorter than the 

 second; 4 or 5 upper labials anterior to the subocular, which In-oadly 

 enters the oral l^order ; temporal scales granular, upper minute, 

 lower much larger ; tympanic shield present ; auricular deuticulatiou 

 absent. 



5 pairs of chin-shields, the first three in contact in the middle.* 

 20 to 25 gular scales.in a straight line between the symphysis of the 

 chin-shields and the median collar-plate ; gular fold distinct. Collar 

 attached in the middle, curved, composed of 6 to 8 plates. 



Scales granular on the nape, larger, rhombic, suVjimbricate and 

 strongly keeled on the body ; 63 to 73 scales across the middle of the 

 body. Ventral plates in regular longitudinal and transverse series ; 

 in 8 longitudinal series, the plates of the second and third series from 

 the middle line broader than long, and 27 to 30 transverse series. A 

 transversely enlarged preanal plate preceded by one or two others, 

 which are narrower. 14 to 18 femoral pores on each side. Digits as 

 in A. vulgaris ; 16 to 18 tri- or quinquecarinate lamellae under the 

 fourth toe. 



Caudal scales strongly keeled, the basal subcaudals smooth ; 25 to 

 35 scales in the fourth whorl. 



* 5 on one .side and 6 on the other in two specimens (male and female), 

 3-4 in contact. 



