200 Miscellaneous. 



alpine mollusk ; but it also lives on the banks of the river Lea, near 

 Broxbourne, in Hertfordshire ; and the Rev. T. Wiltshire found a 

 specimen in my grounds at Ware Priory. — J. Gwtn Jeffreys. 



On a new Species of Naultinus. 



At the Meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society on Nov, 

 11, 1876, the President, Dr. Buller, C.M.G., read the description of 

 a new lizard of the genus Naultinus, and exhibited water-colour 

 drawings of the adult and young, taken from specimens brought 

 over from Nelson, and presented to him by Mr. Arthur Atkinson. 

 The new lizard, for which the author proposed the name of Naulti- 

 nus pulcherrimus, is beautifully marked in green and brown, the 

 latter colour predominating. The green, which is very bright, is 

 displayed in large diamond-shaped spots, arranged symmetrically 

 on both sides of the spine, down the whole course of the back ; 

 the underparts are pale silvery brown ; and on each side of the 

 body there is a series of detached spots of white margined with 

 green. The young of this species is of a bright pea-green colour, 

 varied with transverse bands of paler green, and marked irregularly 

 with minute specks of reddish brown. The author referred to the 

 extreme variability of colour in Naultinus elegans, but pointed out 

 that the present species (of which several other examples have been 

 obtained) is distinguished by an orange-coloured mouth and tongue, 

 these parts being always blue in the other. Apart from the general 

 superficial colouring, which is very pronounced, he considered this 

 a good specific character. He concluded with a general review of 

 the genus Naultinus in New Zealand, in the course of which he 

 mentioned that a large flat-headed species had been brought from 

 The Brothers, where it formed the staple food of the tuatara. Both 

 Dr. Hector and himself had come independently to the conclusion 

 that this form was distinct from the well-known N. pacificus ; but 

 as Dr. Giinther, the greatest living authority on the subject, had 

 pronounced against it, there could be no doubt that it was merely 

 a local form of the latter. 



Dr. Hector said he quite agreed with the President that the 

 orange-coloured tongue separated this lizard as a species from Naul- 

 tinus elegans ; otherwise it might have been taken as a variety of that 

 form with the colours and markings greatly exaggerated. With 

 regard to this large flat-headed species mentioned by Dr. Buller, he 

 might state that he took specimens with him to England and sub- 

 mitted them to Dr. Giinther, The type of Gray's N. jl acijicus in 

 the British Museum was produced, and this was exactly the same ; 

 from which it would appear that our common tree- lizard is the 

 aberrant form, and the island one the true N. pacificus. Whether 

 these diff'erences were considered of specific importance or not, he 

 deemed it of the highest interest that descriptions should be obtained 

 of every known variety. 



