KEPTILIA. 7 



an approach to the mixture of red and black described by Pallas. It is true that these red 

 colours are probably seasonal, and that they tend to disappear in spirits, but the colouration 

 in the specimens before me is so well preserved, that it would be surprising if no trace of red 

 remained in any of them, and they were collected at various seasons, some in autumn, others 

 in spring and early summer. 



I am unable to find Pallas' figure of Lacerta caudivolvula, but there are two figures of the 

 species, both accompanied by descriptions, by Eversman 1 and Eichwald. 2 These figures I have 

 compared with the Tibet Phrynocephalus, and I find both agree with Pallas' description of 

 P. caudivolviilus, and differ from P. theobaldi. It is true that Eversman gives the length of the 

 body as 1 inch 11 lines and of the tail 2 inches 1 line, but his figure shows a longer tail than this, 

 whilst Eichwald gives the lengths of the body and tail respectively as 1 inch 8 lines and 2 inches 5 

 lines, a proportion of 5 : 7 '5. Eichwald describes the tail as having black rings towards the end, 

 the interspaces below being red ; Eversman merely says that there are black bands on the lower 

 surface of the tail towards the extremity, with red interspaces. A comparison of Eversman' s 

 or Eichwald's figure with Steindachner's bears out the view I have expressed of the species 

 represented being distinct. 



Dumeril and Bibron 3 appear to me to have described a different species from Pallas', 

 under the name of Phrynocephalus caudivolvulus. The tail is said to be but little longer than 

 the body, and to be black at the end, with blackish spots along the sides of the remaining 

 portion, and the ventral scales are said to be keeled, whereas Pallas, Eversman and Eichwald 

 describe them as smooth. Dumeril and Bibron's description agrees, except in having the 

 ventral scales keeled, with P. theobaldi. Now, the specimen described by the French her- 

 petologists came from Berlin, and was very probably identical with that compared with the 

 Tibet Phrynocephalus by Professor Peters. 4 . 



But what especially guides me in rejecting Pallas' name for the Tibet Phrynocephalus 

 is that name itself, and the circumstance from which it was derived. Pallas says "percepto 

 inimico caudam coloratam versus dorsum in spiram promptissime revolvit, quod in nulla alia, 

 specie mdi." Now, there are two groups of Phrynocephali, to one of which belong P. olivieri 5 

 and P. persicus 6 ; both of these I have seen alive in large numbers, and I never yet saw one 

 coil its tail, whilst to the other belongs P. maculatus 7 and a species to be described imme- 

 diately, both of which have been observed, the latter by Stoliczka, the former by myself, to have 

 a habit of coiling their tails. These last are much smoother, as a rule, than the Phrynocephali 

 of the former group, and their tail is much longer, whilst in P. maculatus the under surface 

 of the tail, when alive, is frequently red in part. I think it is to this group that the true 

 Lacerta caudivolvula must belong, whilst P. theobaldi certainly belongs to the former group. 

 In Mr. Theobald's very good account of the habits of the present species 8 which he obtained 

 on the Tso-Morari in Eupshu, he makes no mention of having seen it coil its tail, nor does 

 Stoliczka notice any such habit, although ,he especially describes it in the case of the other 

 Turkestan species, and gives a sketch in his diary of the appearance presented. 



1 Lacerta! Imperil Rossici, Nouv. Mem. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou, iii, p. 362, PI. xxxii, fig. 2. 



2 Fauna Caspia Caucasia, Nouv. Mem. Soc. Imp. Nat. Mosc., vii, p. 107, PI. xii, figs. 6, 7, PI. xiii, figs. 914. 

 > Erp. Gen., iv, p. 522. 



4 Gunther: Kept. Brit. Ind., p. 161. 



6 Dum. et Bibr. : Erp. Ge"n. iv, p. 517 ; Eastern Persia, ii, p. 327. 



6 DeFilippi: Archiv. Zool. Genova, ii, p. 387 ; Eastern Persia, ii, p- 329. 



' Anderson : Proc, Zool. Soc., 1872, p. 388 ; Eastern Persia, ii, p. 331. 



8 Jour. As. Soc. Bengal, 1862, xxxi, p. 518. 



