44 Mr. A. W. E. O'Sliaughnessy's Herpetohgical Notes. 



** LacJirymal cavity large, sJiallow, broad hehind down to the base 

 of the teeth, flattened in front of the sides of the nose. 



a Maxwellu, Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 600, f. 8. 



*** TJie lachrymal pit shallow, deepest in the middle and front of 

 the lachrymal bone, which is very large and produced in front. 



C. Ogilhyi. 



II. Nasal bones short, broad behind. 

 C. coronatus, Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 599, f. 7. Lachrymal pit 



deep and broad. 

 a rufllatus, Gray, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 597, f. 5. Lachrymal 



pit shallow and more elongate. 

 C. hadius. Lachrymal pit small, triangular. 



\ .—Herpetohgical Notes. By A. W. E. O'Shaughnessy, 

 Assistant in the Natural-History Department, British 

 Museum. 



EuPREPES NOVAKS (Fitz. in Uteris) J described as anew species 

 from Tahiti by Dr. Steindachner (Rept. in Voyage of the 

 'No vara,' p- 47), is the Scincus noctua (" Scinque phal^ne ") 

 described and figured by Lesson (Voyage of the ' Coquille,' 

 Zoologie, torn. ii. p. 48, pi. iii. fig. 4,^r. nat.), which seems to 

 have been overlooked by subsequent writers, with the exception 

 of Girard, who describes it in vol. xx. of Wilkes's United- 

 States Exploring Expedition, p. 249, and in ' Proc. Acad. Nat. 

 Sc, Philad,' 1857. It is one of the common species, according to 

 Girard occun-ing in the habitations of the natives, and having 

 almost as wide a range as Mabouya cyanura. Lesson procured 

 it in a field of sugar-canes in Ovalau. 



The new subgenus and species, Chalcides [Hapahlepis) 

 Ahendrothii^ described by Dr. Peters in the ' Monatsber. der 

 Konigl. Akad. Berlin,' August 1871, p. 399, is the genus and 

 species Ophiognomontrisancde described at length by Mr. E. D. 

 Cope in the ' Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad.' 1868, p. 100. Both 

 authors make the same remark as to its apparent resemblance to 

 the Amphisbfenians. It is probably through an oversight that 

 Mr. Cope states that his genus differs from Chalcism the position 

 of the nostril ; the position of the nostril is the same in both, 

 as Dr. Peters rightly indicates, the obvious difference being 

 the absence of an internasal plate. This plate is present in 

 Chalcis. The " nasorostrales " of Dum^ril and Bibron = the 



