

6 SECOND YARKAND MISSION. 



S. microlepis are smaller throughout. On the whole, the present species approaches S. catt- 

 casicus more nearly than any other form with which I am acquainted. 



I have no specimen of Stellio aralensis 1 for comparison, and from its inhabiting the steppes 

 east of the Sea of Aral, it may very possibly he nearly allied to the present species. Accord- 

 ing to Lichtenstein's description, it has the hack scales strongly keeled and mucronate, and the 

 toes fringed, the colouration is very different from that of S. stoliczkanus, heing ash-grey, with 

 pale wavy crosshands, the tail and limbs being also banded, and there is a large black spot at 

 each side of the neck in the fold. The young have this spot peculiarly distinct and have 

 long pale spots on the back on a bluish-grey ground. There can be but little doubt of the 

 present being a distinct species. A form from Western Turkestan appears to have been 

 named L. lehmanni by Strauch, 2 but I can find no description of it. In the list of Western 

 Turkestan reptiles, " S. himalayanus, Strauch," is also included by Severtzoff. 



6. PHRYNOCEPHALUS THEOBALDI. 



P. Uckellii, Giinther : Proc, Zool. Soc., 1860, pp. 167, 173, nee Gray. 



P. olivieri, Theobald : Jour. As. Soc. Bengal, 1862, xxxi, p. 518, nee Dum. et Bibr. 



P. theobaldi, Blyth: Jour. As. Soc. Bengal, 1863, xxxii, p. 90; W. Blanf. : Jour. As. Soc. Bengal, 



1875, xliv, Pt. 2, p. 192. 

 P. caudivolvulus, Giinther : Kept. Brit. Ind., p. 161 (1864) ; Theobald : Cat. Kept. Mus. As. Soc., 



p. 40 (1868) ; Anderson : Proc. Zool. Soc., 1872, p. 387, nee Pallas? 

 P. stoliczkez, Steindachner : Novara Expedition, Reptilien, p. 23, PI. i, figs. 6, 7. 

 P.forsythi, Anderson: Proc. Zool. Soc., 1872, p. 390, fig. 7. 



1-4, between Sonamurg and Kharbu (all probably from the Indus valley and not from the Kashmir side of the 

 Zoji-la) ; 6-7, Namika-la, north-east of Shargol ; 8-14, above Kharbu, 14,000 feet ; 15-22, Lamayuru ; 23-25, 

 Snemo ; 26-40, Leh (all the above from the Indus valley in Ladak) ; 41-47, Mughlih, east of Tankse 14,000 

 feet ; 48-53, Lukung, Pankong Lake ; 54, 55, Chagra, north of Pankong Lake ; 56-66, between Yarkand and 

 Karakoram (this and all the following specimens belong to the variety P. forsythi) ; 67, Sanju ; 68, Yarkand ; 

 69, Kizil ; 70-72, Yangihissar ; 73, 74, Kashkasu, on road from Yangihissar to Sarikol. 



I feel convinced that there must be some mistake in uniting the Phrynocephalm of 

 Western Tibet with Lacerta caudivolmila of Pallas. 3 In the first place, Pallas' description, 

 Jj. corporis squamis minutissimis Icevibus, cauda longiuscula Icevissima, subtus apice rubro 

 nigroque variegata, does not appear to agree well. The tail in the Tibet Phrynocephalus is 

 not nearly so long as would be inferred from the above description and from the measurements 

 of L. caudivolvula by Pallas, whole length 3 inches 3 lines, tail 2 inches, so that the proportion of 

 the head and body to the tail is 5 to 8. In a large number of specimens from Tibet and Eastern 

 Turkestan I find the proportions of the head and body to the tail vary between 5 to 5*6 and 

 5 to 6'3, the last being exceptional. The tail, moreover, can scarcely be called very smooth ; 

 the scales towards the extremity, as a rule, are keeled. Then the colouration is different, and 

 especially that of the tail, which is said by Pallas, in his more detailed description, to be subtus 

 a medio ad apicem interrupte nigra et rubra. The colouration in P. theobaldi is extremely 

 variable, as noticed by Steindachner in his description (of P. stoliczTcce}, but I have never seen 



1 Agama aralensis, Lichtenstein, Eversmann's Keise von Orenburg nach Buchara p. 144. It is by no means clear that 



Lichtenstein's species was really a Stellio. 

 - Severtzoff : Turkistanskie Jevotnie, p. 71. 

 3 Zoogy. Eos. As., iii, p. 27. 



